
Gop)Tiglit}i^.. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIli 



LATE CABBAGE 

FROM SEED UNTIL HARVEST 

ALSO SEED RAISING 



BY 

E. N. REED 

w 
Specialist i/i Late Cabbage and Cabbage Seed 



FIRS T EDITION 



NEW YORK 
JOHN WILEY & SONS, Inc. 

London: CHAPMAN & HALL, Limited 
1917 






Copyright, 1917 

BY 

E. N. REED 



MAY 19 1917 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWCR1H & CO. 

DOOK MANUFACTURERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



^/4X" v©CI,A467034 



r~ 



DEDICATIOX 

I HEREBY DEDICATE THIS WORK 
TO MY LOVING WIFE 

(tavntlm 

Together here this life we live 
Its varied pathways trod, 
Forever our dearest hopes shall be 
Eternity with God. 

The Author. 



' f c: 



• m 



PREFACE 



As time advances it becomes more and more apparent 
that each of our vegetable crops must have some special 
thought if we are to continue their successful culture. 

Each year some insect or plant disease seems to work 
havoc in some section of the country, or some unusual 
weather condition prevails which greatly reduces a full crop. 
Noxious weeds, improper rotation, poor seed or poor cultural 
methods, all lend a hand to hinder success. 

In the preparation of this book it has been the aim of 
the writer to discuss briefly some of the chief rights and 
wrongs, so that one may have success without costly 
experience. 

Life is too short to learn everything by experience, and 
manipulations are too expensive. The aim of our Agri- 
cultural schools and colleges to-day is to teach a man 
while he is young, to prepare him for his work so that he 
need not spend a large portion of his life experimenting 
before he begins to succeed. 

I have tried to weave into this work not only my own 
experience, but also the knowledge gained by the experi- 
mental work of our best colleges throughout the great 
cabbage belt, which takes in a large portion of Northern 
United States. 



vi PREFACE 

I, the writer, am a practical grower, not only of cab- 
bage, but also of seed. I am not a man with untried the- 
ories; in the past seven years I have not had a crop of 
cabbage cut less than twenty tons per acre. In 1916 The 
Department of Vegetable Gardening of Cornell University 
cut a portion of my field of cabbage which gave a yield of 
thirty tons and seventy pounds per acre. The piece of 
ground on which this cabbage grew was an ordinary field 
of a hill farm. 

I wish to thank the following for any material, photos 
or assistance which they have rendered me in the prep- 
aration of this book: 

Prof. A. E. Wilkinson, College of Agriculture, Depart- 
ment of Veg. Gardening, Ithaca, N. Y. ; Prof. Chas. Chupp, 
College of Agriculture, Department of Plant Pathology, 
Ithaca, N. Y.; Prof. J. W. Wellington, of Geneva Exp. 
Station. 

Special bulletins upon various subjects from Vermont, 
Ohio, Washington, D. C, and New York have been noted. 



CONTENTS 

Introduction xi 

CHAPTER I 
Crop Rotation 

PAGE 

1 . Humus 2 

2. Kinds of Rotation 2 

CHAPTER II 

Cabbage Seed 

1. Where Grown 6 

2. Size, Shape and Vitahty of Cabbage Seed 7 

3. Strains not True to Type 10 

CHAPTER III 

Locating and Sowing a Cabbage Seed Bed 

1. Fitting the Seed Bed 12 

2. Seed-bed Fertihzation 13 

3. Amount of Seed Required for One Acre 14 

4. When to Sow Cabbage Seed 16 

5. Why Seeds Fail to Grow 16 

6. Treating Cabbage Seed for Disease 18 

7. Sowing Cabbage Seed 20 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

CHAPTER IV 

Screening 

PAGE 

1. Flea-beetle 22 

2. The Cabbage Maggot 23 

3. Constructing a Cheesecloth Screen for a Seed Bed 25 

CHAPTER V 

Type of Soil Best Adapted to Cabbage — Field 
Preparation 

1. Killing Quack Grass 29 

2. Preparing a Field for Cabbage 30 

3. Ditching 32 

CHAPTER VI 

Fertilization 

1. Method of Testing Field to Find what Fertilizer is Needed 36 

2. Sowing Fertilizer Broadcast and Home Mixing of Fertilizer. ... 39 

3. Amount of Fertilizer Removed by One Ton of Cabbage 43 

4. Lime for Cabbage 43 

CHAPTER VII 

Transplanting from the Seed Bed to the Field 

1. When to Transplant 46 

2. Applying Nitrate of Soda to Hasten Seedlings 50 

3. Taking up Seedlings 50 

4. Transplanting and Transplanting Machinery 52 

5. Team Setting 57 

a. Cost of Two Acres 57 

6. Hand Setting 58 

a. Cost of Two Acres 58 

7. Proper Distance Apart to Set Cabbage 59 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER VIII 

Cultivation 

PAGE 

1. Cabbage Cracking 64 

CHAPTER IX 
Insect Enemies 

1. Flea-beetle 66 

2. The Cabbage Maggot 67 

3. Cut Worms 69 

4. May Beetle 70 

5. Crickets 71 

6. Green Cabbage Worm 71 

7. Other Leaf-eating Worms 73 

8. Cabbage Aphis 74 

9. Soft-shelled Snails 75 

CHAPTER X 

Cabbage Diseases 

1. Club Root 78 

2. Black Rot 81 

3. Wilt or Yellows 83 

4. Black Leg or Foot Rot 84 

5. Downy Mildew or Blight 85 

6. Damping Off 85 

CHAPTER XI 

Harvesting Cabbage and Roughage 

1. When to Harvest Late Cabbage , 87 

2. Harvesting Method 88 

3. Tools for Cutting Heads 90 

4. Freezing Cabbage 92 

5. Covering Heads in the Field to Prevent Freezing 93 

6. Harvesting Roughage 93 

7. Amount of Roughage per Acre 95 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XII 

Storage 

PAGE 

1 . Storing Cabbage Out of Doors 96 

2. Storing Cabbage in a Building 101 

a. Construction of Building 101 

3. Soft Rot and Leaf Spot Affecting Ca])bage in a Storage House ... 103 

a. Soft Rot 103 

b. Leaf Spot 104 

CHAPTER XIII 
Late Cabbage for the Dairy and Sheep Farmer 

1. Feeding Value of Cabbage 105 

2. Cabbage for the Sheep 109 

3. Tainting Milk by Feeding Cabbage 110 

4. Feeding Frozen Cabbage 110 

CHAPTER XIV 

Seed Raising 

1. Immature-head Seed Production 113 

2. Mature-head Seed Production. 115 

3. Storing Mature Heads for Seed 116 

4. Resetting Seed Heads in the Spring 116 

5. Fertilization and Cultivation of Seed Plants 118 

6. Harvesting, Curing and Threshing 121 

Index 125 



INTRODUCTION 



The cabbage plant is a native of the coast of Europe. 
The original plant looks very different from what we now 
call our cabbage ; it is merely a large broad-leaf plant which 
never forms a head. From this original plant have been 
developed a great many strains of both Early- and Late- 
maturing Cabbage, as well as Cauhflower, Brussels Sprouts, 
Kohlrabi, Collards, and Kale, all of which are cultivated. 
There are also a number of wild plants which are related, 
such as Shepherd's Purse, Pepper Grass, and Mustard. The 
mustard is very often cultivated, but it is such a noxious 
plant that it had better be classed with the weeds. 

Practically all the above mentioned plants belong to 
the cabbage family and they will all be subject to the 
same diseases. This fact plays a very important part, 
especially where mustard is getting such a foothold as 
it is in most of our older cultivated lands. Any of these 
weeds will keep a cabbage disease propagated from year 
to year. 

Of the various strains of cabbage, I wish to confine 
my work to those maturing in the fall of the year. The 
late-maturing strains have a different root system than 
the early ones; they have more of a spreading nature, that 
is, the pfant throws out longer roots in all directions, so 

xi 



xii INTRODUCTION 

that it feeds in quite a larger area of soil. The early cab- 
bage roots do not extend out very far, but are confined to 
more of a spherical area; this gives rise to different fer- 
tilization and cultivation methods. 

After the early crop of cabbage is out of the way, the 
next comes what most growers call '^ Domestics." These 
require about the same cultural methods as do the late 
ones, which are called " Danish " or sometimes '' Holland." 

The Domestics are mostly consumed in a short time 
after they are harvested, or else they are sent to the sauer- 
kraut factories, where they are made into sauerkraut. 
Generally speaking, the acreage of Domestics is consider- 
ably less than that of Danish. Standard varieties in Do- 
mestics are: Warren, Flat Dutch, Succession, All Head 
Early, Glory, and Copenhagen Market. 

While some of the Danish are made into sauerkraut, 
most of them are consumed after the Domestics are out 
of the way and before southern cabbage comes on the 
market in the spring. A large portion of the Danish have 
to be stored by methods which will be described later on in 
this book. 

In the Danish class there are two shapes of heads, as 
well as in the Domestics, only with the Domestics one can 
find a very much flatter head than in the Danish. As a rule 
there are no harder cabbage than the Danish Ball Head, 
and those with a flattish-topped head which have a peaked 
base. Fig. 1. 

The Red cabbage belongs in the Danish group, as their 
ripening and habits are about the same. As a usual thing 
the red ones are more tender-fleshed, therefore they will 



INTRODUCTION xiii 

not keep as long and are more liable to crack open before 
harvest. Most of the reds are sold where they will be used 
on lunch counters, in restaurants, or where a fancy dish 
is desired. As a rule they do not yield over two-thirds 




Types of Danish Cabbage. 



as much as either Domestic or Danish, nor do they keep 
as well. 

The Danish cabbage is often spoken of by many as not 
being as palatable, and as more fibrous or tough than the 
earlier sorts. While this is true to a certain extent, a 
large portion of the trouble lies in a poor strain, improper 
fertilization, or cultural methods. If a grower who is 
breeding up a strain will select away from such qualities, 
his cabbage will be just as tender and sweet as any. 



LATE CABBAGE 

FROM SEED UNTIL HARVEST 



CHAPTER I 

CROP ROTATION 

If we are to compete successfully with others in crop 
production in these days we must study the fertility condi- 
tion of our soil, as well as the crop we expect to grow; this 
brings us to crop rotation. 

We should study crop rotation for two reasons: first, 
from the standpoint of keeping up soil fertility; the chief 
way to do this is to keep up the supply of humus or organic 
matter. Second, from the standpoint of disease prevention. 

Before one takes any steps toward growing a crop the 
rotation question should be thoroughly in mind; this is 
especially true with the cabbage crop. This crop of all 
crops needs as wide a rotation as possible, or in other words 
as long a period as possible should elapse before another crop 
of the same kind is planted upon that field. If cabbage is 
planted year after year, or even every other year upon the 
same field, club root will develop. Even though club root 

1 



2 LATE CABBAGE 

does not develop the crop will not yield as well as though you 
had used ground upon which no cruciferous crop had been 
grown for four to six years. This changing of crops from 
one field to another gives the chance to keep up the needed 
supply of humus in the soil, and right here let me say that 
few other crops exhaust soil fertility any faster than does 
the cabbage. 

HUMUS 

Humus is the substance that results from the decay of 
plant or animal material in the soil. The soil water passing 
through humus derives power to leach out the mineral ele- 
ments which are essential to plant growth. The more 
humus in the soil the stronger will be the soil water and the 
more leaching power it will have. When a humus-forming 
substance decays to form humus, there are fertilizing 
elements released from the substances which also aid plant 
growth. For example, when you plow under a piece of sod 
ground, decay of the roots takes place and there is a quantity 
of nitrogen, phosphorus and potash liberated, all of which 
are plant foods. The soil water passing through the decayed 
roots derives power to leach out mineral elements in the soil 
which are not available to a plant and thus make them 
available. 

KINDS OF ROTATION 

It is always best for a man to follow some definite rota- 
tion of crops. The rotation I have followed very success- 
fully in bringing up a run-down farm is what is known as 
a three-year rotation. Let me trace a field for three years, 



CROP ROTATION 3 

then you will exactly understand. First year grain or 
canning-factory peas seeded with timothy and clover. 
Second year, clover meadow. Third year, plow the field 
and plant corn, potatoes or cabbage. " My," but you 
may say, '' that makes a lot of plowing and just look at 
the grass seed expenses." I wish to reply by saying you 
cannot add humus to your soil more cheaply than by turning 
in a good clover sod every third year. If your clover cuts 
3 tons of hay per acre, then you have left in your soil roots 
fertilizer equal in value to 15 tons of stable manure. 

What will this cost in comparison with a four-year rota- 
tion? An extra plowing once in six years or every other 
complete rotation. The same will be true of the grass-seed 
expense. The extra plowing per acre once in six years costs 
about $3.00, the grass-seed per acre (4 quarts of timothy and 
8 quarts of clover) is valued at S3. 50, making a total of $6.50 
for two complete rotations, or $3.25 for each rotation. 

We have a clover sod every third year valued at $30 
per acre. In a four-year rotation we have a timothy sod 
every fourth year, valued at one-half as much as the clover 
sod or $15 per acre. You can readily see that the value of 
the timothy sod for one year is $3.75 and for three years it is 
$11.25. Now take the value of the clover sod for the 
three-year rotation, which is $30, and subtract the extra 
cost of plowing and grass seed, caused by using a three- 
year rotation, which is $3.25, and you have the net value of 
the clover sod or $26.75. Subtract from this the value of 
the timothy for three years, which was $11.25, and as a result 
you have a net gain in favor of the three-year rotation of 
$15.50; in other words if you will follow a three-year rota- 



LATE CABBAGE 







CROP ROTATION 5 

tion you can add plant food to your soil per acre to the value 
of $5.16| cents annually. 

Note. — Plowing figured at $3 per acre, manure at $2 
per ton, clover seed at $12 per bushel, and timothy at $4 
per bushel. I always think it pays to put timothy with 
clover when seeding, because there are some spots in almost 
every farm where one does not get a desired stand of clover 
every year. The timothy will come on and make a stand of 
grass and also furnish roots to be plowed under. 

The crops on a four-year rotation will be about as follows : 
First year, grain or canning-factory peas; second year, 
clover hay; third year, timothy hay; fourth year, some 
cultivated crop — cabbage, corn, potatoes or beans. You 
might have a five-year rotation, having three years of hay, 
I think about the only case that this would be practical 
would be when alfalfa came in as the three years of hay. 

It seldom happens that a man will use over one-half of 
his sod ground that he plows for a cabbage crop. You will 
readily see that this gives a chance to avoid putting cab- 
bage on the same field only once in six years, or if he is 
using a four-year rotation only once in eight years. 



CHAPTER II 

CABBAGE SEED 

WHERE GROWN 

After one has decided to grow cabbage, the question 
of seed at once presents itself. Where is cabbage seed 
grown? We always used to think that most of the late 
cabbage seed came from the old country, but in late years 
this country is producing a great deal of the seed used. It 
has been found that native seed is far superior to that which 
is imported. 

Long Island, Oregon and Michigan, I beheve, now pro- 
duce a large share of the native-grown seed. The reason 
these three parts of the country and not the cabbage belt 
in general are growing seed is because these special sections 
have a climate adapted to wintering the plants out of doors 
with very little extra labor. 

Where sections have produced cabbage and cabbage 
seed so continuously as those in the old country, it is no 
wonder that strains begin to weaken and diseased seed is 
obtained when purchased from that source. 

I wish right here to relate a little instance which proved 
very conclusively to the cabbage growers of this country 
the difference in hardiness between native-grown seed and 
that which is imported. I was very much pleased to have 
the honor of breeding and growing the native seed. 

6 



CABBAGE SEED 7 

One of our best farmers set two acres of cabbage from 
seed which was imported ; he also set two more acres beside 
them in the same field from seed I furnished him. The 
soil on this four-acre field was all treated ahke and had 
been for years past. The seed from each source was 
treated with a solution of corrosive subhmate to kill dis- 
ease which often is carried on cabbage seed. 

For some time this four-acre field looked to be the banner 
field of the county, but about the time the cabbage com- 
menced to head, those plants from the imported seed 
began to show an occasional brown leaf. In a few weeks' 
time the whole two acres were worthless, — they had con- 
tracted the black rot, — while the two acres from native-grown 
seed were as healthy and strong as could be asked for. 
To my knowledge there was not a diseased head found among 
the plants grown from native seed. 

SIZE, SHAPE AND VITALITY OF CABBAGE SEED 

Cabbage seed is a little larger than the ordinary yellow 
mustard seed, although the various strains differ in size. 
It is usually a little shriveled when dry. By this I mean 
that it is not exactly round and smooth hke a ball. 

Owing to a peculiar oily seed coat, it is said that 
mustard seed would stay in the ground for twenty years, 
and at the end of that period, if conditions were right, it 
would grow. While the cabbage belongs to the same 
family, and has the same oily seed coat, its useful vitaUty 
is Umited to about six j^ears. After perhaps the second 
year the vitality quite rapidly decreases, therefore it is 
good policy to test seed before sowing. 



8 LATE CABBAGE 

Do not be satisfied with seed that will simply sprout; 
put them into some dirt and see if they will throw good 
strong plants. Often seed that will germinate between 
damp blotting paper or in a seed tester will not throw 
good strong plants. If I were forced to depend upon 
commercial seed I would purchase it one year ahead, and 
grow some cabbage, then I would know what I had before 
I set a whole field. 

If you know of some one who is producing good seed from 
a good strain, by all means secure your seed from him. 
The price you have to pay is the very last thing to look 
at. It is certainly penny-wise and dollar-foolish to spend 
time and money on a crop, then use poor, cheap seed that 
would not produce a good crop under the best of con- 
ditions. I will assure you that the average crop will be 
poor enough if you do all you can to make it your best. 

Our best potato growers want seed potatoes from stock 
that yields 500 or 600 bushels per acre. They have found 
that blood tells, even in potatoes. This same principle 
applies to cabbage. Seed from a strain that has yielded 20 
to 30 tons per acre is far more valuable than seed from 
a strain that has never been tested out. (Fig. 3.) 

Suppose you purchase seed enough for two separate 
acres of cabbage; the seed for one acre is common stock 
costing S2.00 per pound, the seed for the other acre was 
raised from a high-yielding strain and cost perhaps $4.00 
per pound; now it will take about one-half pound of seed 
to insure plants enough for each acre; this makes the cost 
$1.00 and $2.00 respectively. You then set each acre, 
using about eight thousand plants apiece. The acre where 



CABBAGE SEED 9 

you used the cheap ($2.00) seed grows cabbage heads that 
weigh about four pounds each, making a yield of 16 tons 




Fig. 3.— Results obtained by using a high-yielding strain, 
in this field yielded over thirty tons per acre. 



Cabbage 



per acre. The acre where you used the high-yielding strain 
will grow heads that weigh about five pounds each, mak- 
ing a yield of 20 tons per acre. Now then, you have 



10 LATE CABBAGE 

gained 4 tons of cabbage per acre, worth at least $6.00 per 
ton. All this for the small investment of $1.00 in a little 
better grade of seed; this leaves a net profit of $23.00. 

If it costs $40.00 an acre to grow an acre of cabbage, 
one acre would cost $40.00, and the other $41.00, the gross 
returns from the acre where the cheap seed was used would 
be $96.00, the net profit per acre would be the difference 
between $96.00 and $40.00, or $56.00. The gross returns 
from the acre where the better seed was used would be 
$120.00. The net profit per acre would be the difference 
between $120.00, and $41.00, or $79.00. 

I have tried this seed business out year after year, and 
I am positive the difference is no less than I have repre- 
sented. 

STRAINS NOT TRUE TO TYPE 

A person not knowing about cabbage-seed raising will 
often wonder why he gets mixed cabbage, when he ordered 
only one kind. This is very easily accounted for. It often 
happens in the seed-growing districts that one neighbor 
will be growing Domestic seed, another neighbor just over 
the fence will be growing Danish seed. These two fields 
may cross-polhnate from wind carrying the pollen, but 
the chief reason is insects and bees. Perhaps some other 
neighbor will be growing Brussels sprouts seeds; if so, 
cross-breeding will take place and the result will be a 
worthless plant. 

There are also many cases of seed getting mixed with 
other varieties after it is harvested; this often happens 
during retail trade. 



CHAPTER III 
LOCATING AND SOWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 

Fully one-half of all cabbage failures comes from things 
that can be traced to seed, seed sowing, or getting a stand of 
good healthy plants in the seed bed. 

In choosing a location for the seed bed too much care 
cannot be exercised. The ground should be well-drained, 
mellow soil, and as free from weeds as possible. Never 
locate where there has been an old barnyard or where 
any soakage from one will get onto your bed; never use 
ground that has had cabbage or any other cruciferous 
crop grown on it for at least six years, because club root 
is more liable to develop. 

Some are very successful by breaking up a piece of old 
pasture, and using this on v/hich to sow their seed; under 
such circumstances one should be careful not to use ground 
that has had a lot of manure dropped on it by stock which 
have been fed diseased cabbage. Neither should the stock 
have run over some old diseased cabbage field, then across 
your chosen spot. Very often the poorest place for a 
seed bed is some nice wash land along a stream. 

If you are in a section of the county that is not all level, 
the safest place is at least the first rise of ground. Do not 
locate at the foot of some steep bank or on any other 
ground where there will be danger from washing. Often 

11 



12 LATE CABBAGE 

a good sharp shower has been known to ruin a seed bed. 
The mellower and looser the soil, of course, the easier the 
plants will take up at setting time. 

FITTING THE SEED BED 

If the land to be used is sod ground, fall plowing is 
always best, because you cannot get the capillary attraction 
thoroughly estabhshed with spring plowing, especially if 
the season is dry. 

The plants have only a few weeks in which to grow 
before transplanting time, and it is very important that 
we control every factor in our power to get them ready at 
the proper time. Being a week or ten days late in trans- 
planting often results in a great loss of moisture to the 
crop in a dry year. We never know when a dry year is 
coming. A very thorough preparation of the bed is nec- 
essary. The soil must be worked up fine and mellow if 
you expect a good germination. 

Do not expect to put a seed bed in first-class shape 
when the ground is damp and soggy; choose bright, sunny 
days when the ground will dry as you stir it. 

I like a good disk harrow to use in pulverizing the soil 
for a seed bed. If one does not have a disk harrow, a com- 
mon spring-tooth harrow will answer. As soon as the seed 
bed has been leveled I prefer to sow my fertilizer so that 
the rest of the fitting will work it in. (See Seed-bed Fer- 
tilization.) I prefer to broad-cast my fertihzer, whether 
seed is to be broad-casted or sown in rows. (See Seed 
Sowing.) Having the fertilizer now on, proceed to work 



LOCATING AND SOWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 13 

the bed until the ground is very fine and mellow. If there 
are no lumps larger than a pea it is all the better. If the 
ground is lumpy a planker (plank drag) will greatly help 
in pulverizing it. A common land roller will greatly help, 
if one does not have a planker. Last of all, go over the 
bed with a spike-toothed drag, or some other smoothing 
harrow. 

SEED-BED FERTILIZATION 

Common commercial fertihzers are best for growing 
cabbage seedlings, especially if the ground has a fair supply 
of organic matter. It usually will have, when sod ground 
is broken up for a seed bed. If there is a lack of organic 
matter the best way to supply it is by applying well-rotted 
manure at the rate of 20 tons per acre. 

There are several objections to using manure at all; 
it is apt to contain weed seeds, diseased cabbage, cauU- 
flowers or some other cruciferous plant, thus bringing dis- 
ease to the seed bed: it is also hard to get it worked into 
the soil evenly. 

My rule for commercial fertiUzer is as follows: For 
1 pound of seed select 2000 square feet of ground on which 
apply 100 pounds of a good complete fertihzer with about 
the following formula: 

Nitrogen 4 per cent 

Phosphoric acid 10 per cent 

Potash 6 per cent 

If the ground is deficient in organic matter, and you 
apply the manure as above suggested, I would omit the 



14 LATE CABBAGE 

nitrogen supply, making the fertilizer formula read as 

follows : 

Phosphoric acid 10 per cent 

Potash 6 per cent 

It is best not to use too much nitrogen, as it has a 
tendency to produce spindling, watery plants in a wet 
season. If the plants are growing too slowly, it is better 
to apply it later as described under '' Transplanting." 

For a plot on which you would sow a pound of seed, 
100 pounds of very fine quicklime or wood ashes will be 
of value in sweetening up the soil and helping to hold in 
check any club root that might be in the ground. If air- 
slaked or ground limestone is used, the quantity should 
be double. If hydrated lime is used, use one-third more. 
The lime should be applied and worked in as early as pos- 
sible; this gives it more chance to act upon the soil. If the 
ground is fall-plowed, apply the Hme then, and work it in. 

About 300 pounds of wood ashes would furnish the 
same amount of lime and also all potash needed. 

AMOUNT OF SEED REQUIRED FOR ONE ACRE 

There are about 136,000 cabbage seeds in 1 pound. 
This, however, is not a safe rule to go by when figuring 
the amount you need to get plants enough for one acre 
of cabbage. 

Generally speaking, the average cabbage seed will not 
germinate over 75 per cent. The cabbage plant is at its 
weakest point when it is getting into the world. Quite a 
percentage of the seeds that germinate never get to be 



LOCATING AND SOWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 15 

large enough to set. Many die before they get through 
the ground, and insects destroy thousands of them. 

The very safest way is to sow about twice as much 
seed as will ordinarily be required. I always say, allow 
J pound of seed for every acre of cabbage you expect to 
set. One year with another you will save dollars by fol- 
lowing a practice like this. If you have a surplus of plants 
you can almost always sell more than enough to pay for 
all your seed. There always has been and probably always 
will be a class of people that will not have plants enough 
of their own. 

Then there is another very important thing about 
having a good supply — that is, you have a chance to pick 
out good healthy, stocky plants; the first pick of a seed 
bed is to be preferred. I think if there was nothing more 
to be gained than this, you have the satisfaction of knowing 
you started with the best. Start the best you can and 
you will usually end up poorly enough. 

Many a man has bought diseased plants or stock that 
was not true to name, because he was not forehanded 
enough to have plants in abundance for himself. Some 
men make a business of growing plants for sale; there is 
quite a fair profit to be made in this way if a man will 
stick to it year after year. Some years a man cannot sell 
enough to pay for his seed and fertilizer, then perhaps the 
next year he will do well enough to more than make up. 
About all that is necessary to sell them is to do a little 
advertising in your local paper, and you will soon have a 
reputation for growing plants. 

Danish stock usually sells for from 50 cents to one 



16 LATE CABBAGE 

dollar per 1000 plants. The earliest plants usually bring 
the most money. If early Domestic stock is raised they 
are usually started in cold frames; plants handled this 
way bring from $3 to $5 per thousand. Domestic stock 
grown in the open brings about the same price as the 
Danish plants. 

WHEN TO SOW CABBAGE SEED 

" When shall I sow my cabbage seed? " is a question 
very frequently asked. Of course the answer will vary, 
according to the locahty and also to the kind of cabbage, 
whether Domestic or those of the Danish class. I can answer 
it only for my own locality, which is central New York. 

As a rule, the Domestics want to be sown just as soon 
as the ground will permit; the young plants are quite re- 
sistant to any frosts that may occur. I do not recall 
ever seeing young plants damaged in the seed bed in 
the spring. For Danish seed, May 1 is a very satisfactory 
date, one year with another. This is about the time of 
early oat sowing. 

If the seed bed is to be covered with a screen of cheese- 
cloth, the seed sowing may be put off a week or ten days, 
as seedlings grow much faster under a screen of this kind. 
Further directions about screening will be given in a 
chapter on screening. 

WHY SEEDS FAIL TO GROW 

There are many reasons why seeds fail to grow and 
make good strong plants. Among the most common is 
improper depth of planting. Seed planted too deep, no 



LOCATING AND SEWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 17 

matter how strong their germination, will give a stand 
of weak plants. Plants which come from seed which is 
planted too deep must form a second set of roots near the 
surface of the ground; these are called aerial roots, and 
are necessary to the healthy growth of the plant. These 
aerial roots will grow as soon as the seed starts to ger- 
minate if it is planted at the proper depth. If planted too 
deep the young plants will not grow well until these aerial 
roots have formed. This means a standstill in growth of 
perhaps a week or ten days. Good cabbage seed that is 
planted J inch deep will be very likely to germinate from 
85 to 95 per cent. If this same seed were planted 4 or 5 
inches it probably would not germinate over 5 or 10 per 
cent. There must be proper amounts of air, heat and 
moisture for best results. 

Sowing seed and commercial fertilizer together is not 
to be recommended, for often the fertilizer is so strong that 
it will destroy the young plant roots. Seed put into lumpy, 
loose soil often will not germinate because of the lack of 
moisture; should it germinate under such conditions there 
is danger of losing many of them by the soil drying out 
before the plant gets deeply rooted. Do not plant too 
deep. The soil should be well firmed around the seed to 
insure proper moisture for germination. Seed sown just 
before a heavy rain do not come through the surface crust 
as readily, because they often do not have strength enough 
in their slender stems to lift it. 

Cabbage seed may be sown too early in the season 
before the weather conditions are suitable to its germina- 
tion; better plants will be obtained if sowing is put off until 



18 



LATE CABBAGE 



ground and weather conditions are suitable. Often seed- 
lings are destroyed by insects shortly after they come 
through the ground. 

TREATING CABBAGE SEED FOR DISEASE 

As a safeguard against introducing several very de- 
structive cabbage diseases, one should always treat his 
seed with a solution of Bichloride of Mercury (Corrosive 




Fig. 4. — Not a healthy head was harvested from this field, 
merit would have prevented this loss. 



Seed treat- 



Sublimate) before sowing. (Fig. 4.) As heretofore men- 
tioned, cabbage seed have an oily seed coat to which disease 
germs will adhere and be carried from one year to another. 



LOCATING AND SOWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 19 

If there were any disease in the stock from which the seed 
were produced, this disease will be very likely to be found 
upon the cabbage seed. 

When cabbage seeds are threshed the whole plant is 
pretty well ground up, so that if there were any disease, 
the seed would be pretty apt to have some sticking on its 
oily seed coat. 

One of my neighbors last year lost 11 acres simply 
because he failed to treat his seed. The damage does not 
stop here, for he has his ground infested with disease, 
which will carry for many years to come. This man sold 
a great many thousand plants to others, and of course 
they all had failures. Perhaps it would be a very good 
question to ask when buying plants whether or not the man 
treated his seed before sowing. I would not buy and set 
a plant from any one unless I was positive the stock was 
clean. 

Here are the simple directions: To treat 1 pound of 
seed, dissolve one Corrosive Sublimate tablet in 1 pint 
of water; use an earthen dish for the work. Soak the seed 
fifteen minutes in this solution, then take them out and 
rinse in clean water. This rinsing is quite important, as 
the Corrosive Subhmate will prevent germination if allowed 
to remain on the seed. Now spread the seed to dry, but 
not in the sun or near artificial heat. The seed may be 
sown when damp, providing you do not want to use a 
seed drill. 

The Corrosive Subhmate tables tmay be obtained from 
any drug store for about 1 cent each. These tablets con- 
tain 7y% grains of Corrosive Sublimate and when dissolved 



20 LATE CABBAGE 

in 1 pint of water make a solution of 1 to 1000. The 
tablets are deadly poison and should be kept away from 
children. 

SOWING CABBAGE SEED 

Having our seed bed ready and our seed treated for 
disease, the next step is sowing the seed. Localities vary 
as to the methods they use ; some sow all seed in rows, 
while others sow broad-cast. It is far more difficult than 
it seems to sow broad-cast, and do a good, even job. If 
you are going to sow broad-cast by hand, one will do a 
better job to divide the seed into two parts, then sow the 
bed over with one part of the seed, walking east and west, 
then sow the other part walking north and south. Some 
like to mix the seed with sand or fine dirt; this makes a 
larger quantity which may be distributed evenly with 
greater ease. 

Seed sown broad-cast should be on as clean ground as 
possible, as they cannot be cultivated or weeded out. Gen- 
erally speaking, the plants will be a little more stocky, as 
they are not crowded as much as in rows. Cover the seed 
as near J inch as possible. A peg-toothed harrow is a 
good tool to use if the bed is of any size ; if small, it can be 
covered by hand with a rake. If you are forced by con- 
tinued rainy weather to sow your seed when the ground 
is damp, it is best not to roll the seed bed, otherwise the 
bed should be rolled or firmed thoroughly in some manner. 

If the row method is adopted, the best way is to use 
a seed drill. There are a number of good drills on the mar- 
ket, such as Planet Jr., and Iron Age. In using the row 



LOCATING AND SOWING A CABBAGE SEED BED 21 

method, I prefer rows 6 to 8 inches apart, and the seed 
sown very thin in the row; from 4 to 6 seed per inch is 
enough if the germination is good. This thin sowing gives 
more stocky plants, which are to be preferred to tall, 
spindling ones. I think a man will get a few more plants 
from a pound of seed sown in rows, as the covering is more 
even. 

There are a few sections where the soil is so heavy 
that the seed have to be covered with dry sand, other- 
wise the soil will bake so hard that the young plants cannot 
come through; under such conditions the row method is 
best. Some claim plants can be taken up better when 
seed is sown in rows. Of the two methods, broad-casting 
is the simplest and the one most used by the average farmer. 

Never sow a seed bed when the ground is damp and 
soggy, if you can help it; the ground will bake and form a 
crust at the surface which will prevent the seed from 
coming through. 

It is not wise to sow seed just before a heavy rain, on 
account of the crust which forms when the ground is drying 
out. Better wait until the ground has become dry enough 
to work again after the rain; sowing in damp ground and 
just before a rain causes more poor stands of plants than 
sowing poor seed. 



CHAPTER IV 
SCREENING 

It is only of late years that the cabbage grower has 
been troubled with insects when trying to grow his seed- 
Hngs. Perhaps I could not explain the matter any better 
than by quoting the summary of the Geneva bulletin, 
No. 334, by W. J. Schoene. " The important insects 
attacking seedlings are the turnip flea-beetle, Phyllotreta 
vittata Fab., which injures the leaves of the young plant; 
and the cabbage maggot, Pegomya Spp., which attacks the 
underground portion of the plant." 

Cheesecloth conserves the moisture, increases the tem- 
perature, and in the early season furnishes a more con- 
genial condition for growth. Plants raised under cheese- 
cloth start sooner, grow faster, and obtain the desired 
size a week or ten days earlier than plants in the open. 

Experiments show that screening completely protects 
the seedlings from maggot injuries, also that certain grades 
of cheesecloth will prevent injury by flea-beetles. 

The experience of four years has shown that the use 
of cheesecloth is entirely practicable, the cost of protecting 
plants ranging from 6 to 20 cents per 1000. 

THE FLEA-BEETLE (Phyllotreta vittata Fab.) 

Many of us have often wondered where our young 
cabbage seedlings disappeared to, when they had only 

22 



SCREENING 23 

the cotyledon on them; then we have often wondered what 
was eating the young plants, making them look so ragged. 
The turnip flea-beetle is responsible for the trouble. This 
little black beetle is not any larger than the head of a pin. 

Since wild mustard has become so common, the flea- 
beetle has thrived pretty well, as this plant furnishes the 
majority of its food. Since the mustard and cabbage 
are germinating at about the same time, the starving beetles 
come from their hibernating quarters and begin to destroy 
the young plants. 

Not only are the cotyledons eaten, but later the first 
leaves are often damaged; as a usual thing the danger 
period lasts only from five to seven days, or until the 
plants get their more hardy leaves. 

The flea-beetle larvae often damage the underground 
portion of the young plants by eating out the center of 
the stem. This work is often laid to the cabbage maggot, 
but upon close examination, you will see that the work is 
done by the flea-beetle larvae. Both flea-beetle and maggot 
cause more trouble if the seed bed is located in a warm, 
sheltered place. 

THE CABBAGE MAGGOT (Pegomya Spp.) 

The adult of the cabbage maggot much resembles the 
house-fly. This fly deposits the eggs at the surface of the 
ground around the young seedlings. The eggs hatch and 
the young larvae work down and commence to feed upon 
the root system of the plant; as a usual thing they do not 
attain headway in a seed bed until ten days or two weeks 
before setting time. At first one only notices a few withered 



24 



LATE CABBAGE 







. », i' 












■^;s^ 







Fig. 5. — Note the protection a screen of cheesecloth affords against 
insects. Cut below screened. Cut above not screened. 



SCREENING 25 

plants; if the weather is dry and warm, the plants root 
slowly, then the maggots will destroy a bed in a few days. 
Many plants look all right until pulled, then you will dis- 
cover they have only a few roots, usually not enough to 
carry them through the transplanting operation. 

CONSTRUCTING A CHEESECLOTH SCREEN FOR A SEED BED 

The work of screening consists of setting up boards 
around the seed bed over which cheesecloth is stretched 
and tacked about every 6 inches. Stake the corners of 
your bed before sowing; then, after it is sown, set up the 
boards around the edge. These boards may be any where 
from 6 inches to 10 inches wide; I think perhaps 8 is most 
desirable. There should be galvanized wires stretched 
across the bed about every 4 feet to keep the screen from 
sagging down on the young plants; in turn these wires 
should be supported about every 10 feet by a small stake. 
The wires can pass over the tops of the stakes and small 
staples driven in to hold them in place; do not use rusty 
wires, because they will wear holes through the cloth when 
it rests upon them. 

Put the cheesecloth screen on as soon as you sow the 
seed; it prevents the ground from baking and the seed 
will germinate much better and faster. The amount of 
seed can be reduced one-third or more for a given number 
of plants if the screen is used. Care should be exercised 
not to sow seed too thickly under a screen. 

Plants are a httle more tender and watery when raised 
under a screen. To overcome this it is best to remove the 
screen a week or ten days before the plants are ready to 



26 



LATE CABBAGE 




PiQ 6,_xjpper plants grown in the open. Lower plants grown under 
a screen of cheesecloth. All other conditions the same. 



SCREENING 27 

set; the maggots cannot develop enough in this length of 
time to do any harm. 

When the plants get to just about the right size, it is 
best to transplant, or they will get too large. Often, in a 
very few days, if the weather is warm and wet, the plants 
will double in size. If such conditions prevail you will 
have to be on hand to transplant, or they will grow tall and 
spindhng, which is very undesirable. 

I have been screening my seed bed for a number of 
years, and I am so well pleased with the results that if 
there were no insects to bother, I would continue just the 
same. You are almost sure of a good stand of plants under 
a screen, no matter what the weather. 

One year it was so dry that the seed in an open bed 
would not germinate until the bed was wet artificially, 
but those under the screen came along all right. I pro- 
ceeded with setting when the proper time came, as the 
plants under the screen were plenty big enough. Dry 
weather continued all summer, and in the fall I had the 
best piece of cabbage in the county. People came from 
far and near to see the piece. This piece harvested over 
20 tons per acre and that year cabbage brought from $15.00 
to $20.00 per ton from the field. It always pays to be on 
hand with a crop. 

The best grade of cheesecloth to use for screening is 
that having from 20 to 30 threads to the inch. This same 
screen can be used for three or four years, depending upon 
the care you give it. A piece of paper placed under the 
cloth when sewing breadths together will help to make it 
feed freely through the sewing machine. 



CHAPTER V 

TYPE OF SOIL BEST ADAPTED TO CABBAGE- 
FIELD PREPARATION 

The cabbage, being one of our hardiest vegetables, 
will adapt itself to most soils; those of gravelly nature 
are not as suitable, because they lack the moisture-holding 
power. The crop often does best on a clay loam found on 
so many hills and uplands; perhaps the reason this type 
of soil was not used for cabbage-growing in the past was 
because it was not properly tilled and well fertihzed. 

In the past a great deal of cabbage-raising was done 
along the streams and in the richer valleys. This soil pro- 
duced cabbage so many years that the yield is now greatly 
reduced. The soil has become " cabbage-sick," so to 
speak; disease has gotten in and the soil must have a rest. 

While I cannot give you a set of directions telling just 
where you should put your cabbage every year, I may be 
able to suggest some things that will help in choosing a 
field better adapted to the crop. 

First of all — do not put cabbage where you have 
recently had them, or any other cruciferous crop. It is 
better to have from five to seven years between two crops 
if possible. Fields flooded by a stream quite often develop 
club root. Do not put them on a field where wild mustard 
will club root. 

28 



TYPE OF SOIL BEST ADAPTED 29 



KILLING QUACK GRASS 

I prefer sod ground on which to grow my cabbage if 
I can get it. Most truck growers and farmers run some 
kind of a rotation and have more or less quack grass. 
From the sod to be broken up I would select for my field 
that portion where the quack grass is worst. Of course, 
if you have no quack grass, put your cabbage where you 
please, if other conditions are all right. 

If you have a quack field, plow it the last of August 
just deep enough to get below all roots, give it a thorough 
dragging during the hot days in the fall, and work all the 
quack roots to the surface you can. If roots get so thick 
they clog a drag, rake them up with a horse rake and draw 
them off, or burn if they are dry. Do not be afraid to 
get down deep and do business with a sharp spring- 
toothed harrow. Let me say right here that a spring- 
toothed harrow is the only tool that is worth using for 
this work. 

Put on three horses if 3^ou have them, and do a thorough 
job. Early in the spring plow this field again, deeply this 
time, perhaps 10 to 12 inches. Now the few remaining 
quack roots can be dragged out from this side of the fur- 
rows and the quack grass is conquered. 

The reason we have always failed to kill quack grass in 
our crops is because of the few roots down in the soil below 
the harrow and cultivator. The under-roots throw up 
new shoots and of course new roots form from them. If the 
grower will use some method Hke the one here described 
and get out those under roots, quack grass is not hard to 



30 LATE CABBAGE 

handle. My farm used to be infested so badly that I 
thought at one time I would have to abandon some of 
the fields. By following the principle here given I have 
the quack grass completely under control. 

PREPARING A FIELD FOR CABBAGE 

In the preparation of a field for cabbage, always fall- 
plow if possible, as this gives more moisture to the crop. 
No other crop that the farmer raises requires so much 
moisture. 

If you cannot fall-plow, do it as soon in the spring as 
the ground is fit. Do not put off plowing because the crop 
is not going out until some time in June. Commencing 
in the spring as soon as the ground is fit, it should be 
dragged at least once a week until setting time. Here is 
something that is of twofold importance; it not only con- 
serves the moisture, bat most of the weed seeds in the soil 
will germinate and be killed. You can kill more weeds 
with a harrow this way than you can by cultivating and 
hoeing half the summer. Tliis is a point well worth keep- 
ing in mind. 

Put your ground in mellow shape; it is a lot easier 
to do it with a harrow than with a cultivator and a hoe. 
Often the use of a planker will work wonders in pulver- 
izing lumpy ground. In some instances a roller can be 
used for the same purpose. 

If a field has been properly fitted, you will never have 
to wait for a rain at transplanting time. Just under the 
surface of the ground it will be very moist. Most men 



TYPE OF SOIL BEST ADAPTED 31 

are inclined to slight field preparation. This is one of 
the most important steps in cabbage culture. 

I cannot tell you just what tools will best prepare your 
field, because some soils need disking and roUing or planking 
to pulverize them, while others can be put in excellent 
shape by the use of either the srpihg-toothed or the disk 
harrow. If you are using a spring-tooth, do not expect 
to do good work with an old tool. I have seen men try 
to fit a field with an old spring-toothed harrow having 
no points on the teeth; in fact the teeth were half worn 
off. Honestly, they were wasting a good share of their 
time and not doing much more good than by dragging a 
cat around by the tail. 

Throw that old harrow away or sell it to some one who 
wants one that will draw easy. Now get one with wide 
teeth on it, and be sure that they are set close enough 
together, so that they cut nearly all the ground. Some 
firms are making what they call an easy-draft harrow; 
they have narrowed up the width of the teeth, reduced 
the number, and set them farther apart on the frame. 
This kind of a tool cuts only part of the ground and leaves 
ridges of hard soil; weeds, having a tough stem Uke thistles, 
will easily slip through such a tool. 

From five to eight harrowings are none too many for 
good fitting; the finer you can get your soil the more mois- 
ture you can draw up from underneath and retain for the 
crop. This moisture is of great help in dissolving plant 
food. 

Some men are in such a hurry about fitting their fields 
that when they come to transplant they need a crowbar 



32 LATE CABBAGE 

to do the work with. If your ground is thoroughly fitted, 
the cultivator will work much freer, and there will be less 
danger of its jumping and damaging plants when you 
are working close to them. 

Do not try to work land that is too wet, you will only 
pack it down and make it harder than it was before. If 
you do not believe this, drag some land that is too wet, 
then let it lay until it is well dried out; now plow it, 
and you will have a large, hard lump everywhere the 
horses put their feet when you were dragging it. 

DITCHING 

If you have fields on the farm that have wet spots in 
them they should be ditched before the cabbage are 
set. The crop is not put out until late in the season, and 
there are many days that are not suitable to work the soil 
that could be made to count well if they were spent in 
ditching. 

I well remember two neighbors each having a field that 
was inchned to be wet in spots. Neighbor A said, he was 
going to run a little ditch in his field and then he would 
be sure not to lose part of his crop should the season be 
wet. Neighbor B said he guessed he would chance his 
this year, as he had cut some pretty good hay on those 
wet spots. 

Well, the season happened to be unusually wet and 
the results was that neighbor A harvested a full crop of 
cabbage, if I remember correctly nearly 25 tons per acre, 
while neighbor B had only about one-fourth that amount. 



TYPE OF SOIL BEST ADAPTED 33 

The school of experience is a sure way to knowledge, but 
the tuition is rather high. 

If you are going to do some work of this kind, use only 
vitrified tile, and let some one who knows how tell you 
about laying out your system. Any agricultural school 
can furnish you the information. 



CHAPTER VI 
FERTILIZATION 

Cabbage needs plenty to eat as well as to drink if 
we expect to get large yields. This does not mean that it 
needs wet land. It takes as much fertiUzer out of the soil 
to grow 5 tons of cabbage per acre as it does to grow 20 
bushels of wheat. 

It takes about 1000 spoonfuls of water to make one 
spoonful of commercial fertilizer all available for a plant; 
now do you wonder that I have advised preservation of 
moisture in the preceding chapter? 

I cannot give a formula for fertilizer that will fit every 
man's conditions, while it is true that many soils need the 
same kind of chemicals, yet one man's soil may need twice 
as much as another to produce the same results. The 
amount of organic matter in the soil plays a very important 
part in the fertihzation question. 

What does organic matter do for the soil? Organic 
matter is the Hfe of the soil; it makes the soil loose and 
spongy. A soil in this condition admits air freely, which, 
together with the moisture it holds, breaks down the veg- 
etable matter. When this operation takes place, there 
are acids thrown off which dissolve the minerals in the 
soil, such as, phosphoric acid and potash, and make them 
available for the plants. The more this breaking down 

34 



FERTILIZATION 35 

process can be stimulated, the more plant food will be lib- 
erated. A soil which is so full of organic matter that it 
feels light and soft will hold minerals in solution for a 
much longer period than a soil that is hard and gritty. 

For cabbage I like to use a combination of stable manure 
and commercial fertiUzer. For example, on a soil that is 
up in good heart, that is, one that has had sod or manure 
worked into it in previous years, give it a dressing of 
10 tons of manure per acre and then apply broadcast 
from 800 to 1500 pounds of a fertilizer analyzing 2 per 
cent nitrogen, 10 per cent phosphoric acid, and 8 per 
cent potash. If you have a liberal supply of nitrogen 
that will become available for the crop, say a heavy clover 
sod, you might leave off the 2 per cent nitrogen from the 
above formula; use plenty of phosphoric acid and potash. 
These are the elements that form good hard heads. If 
no manure is at hand, simply increase the amount of com- 
mercial fertilizer. 

In an ordinary season, there is little danger of getting 
on too much nitrogen, but in occasionally very wet years 
a very large supply is apt to make the cabbage grow too 
leafy and loose; as a rule cabbages need to grow firm and 
hard. This gives them good keeping quaUties. 

Two fields set side by side, the plants raised from the 
same seed and set at the same time, will produce cabbage 
that looks entirely different if nothing but the nitrogen 
supply is varied. Many times such variations as this have 
been laid to the seed producers when really the trouble 
was in the fertihzation. There is always more of all fer- 
tilizing elements available in a wet year. 



36 LATE CABBAGE 

If there is a lack of nitrogen, which will be most notice- 
able in a dry year by the very slow growth of the crop, it 
may be supplied some time in August by giving the field a 
top dressing of nitrate of soda. This is very easily done by 
taking a small pail which is carried from a strap over the 
shoulder and, walking between the rows, turning small hand- 
fuls of nitrate through a grain tube taken from a grain drill. 
This tube is carried in one hand and held in front of you 
as you walk along. This method is far better than trying 
to sow it broadcast, as you will see none of the nitrate 
falls upon the large leaves of the plant. By holding the 
tube perhaps one foot from the ground, the nitrate will 
spread over a good share of the space between the rows. 

METHOD OF TESTING FIELD TO FIND WHAT FERTILIZER 
IS NEEDED 

Every man should make a few test spots on his farm to 
find out what kind of fertihzer and what amounts are most 
profitable to use. By the following method one can make 
a fair test of what his farm needs; it is better to take several 
years' average than to base it all upon one. 

Somewhere in your cabbage field where the ground is 
as near average as possible, stake off 12 plots 25 feet square, 
number these 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. 
. No. 

1 apply Nothing 

2 20^ worth of Nitrogen 

3 20^ worth of Phosphoric acid 

4 20(t, worth of Potash 



FERTILIZATION 



37 




38 



LATE CABBAGE 






^ c 



^ .2 

ft ^ 

-=2 g 






FERTILIZATION 39 



5 


20i^ worth of Manure 


6 


Nothing 


7 


10^ worth of Nitrogen 


7 


10^ worth of Phosphoric acid 


8 


10^ worth of Nitrogen 


8 


10^ worth of Potash 


9 


10^ worth of Phosphoric acid 


9 


lOf^ worth of Potash 


10 


6§^ worth of Nitrogen, Phosphoric acid, and 




Potash 


11 


20f!^ worth of Lime 


12 


Nothing 



These separate plots should have their fertihzer sown 
on by hand and worked in, then treat them just the same 
as the rest of your field until harvest. At harvest cut 
each plot and weigh the heads, the three where you apphed 
nothing will give you an average of what your ground will 
produce without fertilizer. By subtracting this average 
from each of the treated plots, you will have the gain 
caused by the treatment. From these results you can 
figure out an acre; 25 feet square or 625 square feet is 
approximately yV of ^.n acre. 

The cutting and weighing of a fertihzer test like this is 
often of interest to neighboring growers. (Figs. 7 and 8.) 

SOWING FERTILIZER BROADCAST AND HOME MIXING OF 
FERTILIZER 

Always sow your fertilizer for late cabbage broadcast. 
This causes the roots to run out in all directions, thus 



40 LATE CABBAGE 

increasing their root system. They are what we call gross 
feeders, that is, they feed by simply filling the soil with 
small roots. If you put the fertilizers in hills or in a small 
circle around each plant, there is very Httle tendency for 
the roots to run out in a large feeding area. 

Do not be afraid to fertilize liberally; you will get enough 
extra cabbage to more than pay the cost of the fertihzer, 
if you use them for nothing but cow feed. Cabbage and 
buckwheat show the effects of fertilizer the most of any 
crop that I can mention. 

There are several machines with which you may apply 
the fertihzer and have it evenly distributed. A common 
grain drill is all right, provided you drag the ground 
twice the opposite way from which you went with the drill. 
This cross-dragging will carry the fertilizer all through the 
soil, as you do not want it left in rows, which it otherwise 
would be, just coming from the drill teeth. Any of the 
fertilizer sowers or lime sowers will apply the goods in a 
satisfactory manner, but the fertilizer should be worked 
into the soil. Care should always be taken to keep the 
fertilizers dry, otherwise they will make all sorts of trouble 
when trying to apply them. I have seen fertihzers get so 
damp and sticky that some drying material such as plaster 
or dried muck had to be mixed with them before they could 
be sown. This is often the case with home-mixed goods, 
when a lot of nitrate of soda is used. Do not let this little 
warning about damp goods keep you from home-mixing 
your own fertihzer. It has been repeatedly proven that 
home-mixed goods are best and by far the cheapest. All 
the tools that are necessary are a pair of scales, a shovel, 



FERTILIZATION 



41 




FiQ 9.— Home-made fertilizer screen. (Common sand sieve.) 



42 



LATE CABBAGE 



and a sand sieve. A sand sieve may be easily made by 
tacking a piece of J -inch mesh galvanized screen across 
two side pieces spaced about 20 inches apart (Fig. 9). 

There is nothing more to home mixing of fertilizers 
than simply weighing out the required amounts of chem- 
icals and shoveling them together a couple of times, then 
running them over the sand sieve to take out any lumps that 
might make trouble. Simply get the habit and you will 
always do it. The following table will be found of value to 
a person who mixes his own chemicals : 



HOME-MIXER'S FERTILIZER TABLE 

Any Formula at a Glance 

Exact number of pounds of each material required for the equivalent 
of two thousand (2000) pounds of ready Mixed Fertilizer of 
analysis desired. 



m 

'S 


5 
1 

if 
l-s" 

gas 

< 


T3 
O 

s 

s 
£ 

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143 


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84 


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126 


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1067 


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168 


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667 


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550 


625 


1333 


1538 


1430 


715 


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210 


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833 


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1846 


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252 


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1867 




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294 


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336 


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FERTILIZATION 43 

AMOUNT OF FERTILIZER REMOVED BY ONE TON OF CABBAGE 

The following table gives the number of pounds of 
fertihzing elements removed by one ton of cabbage. 

Nitrogen, 4.8 lbs., equal to 32 lbs. of nitrate of 

soda 
Phosphoric acid, 1.68 lbs., equal to 12 lbs. of 14% 

phosphoric acid 
Potash, 8 lbs., equal to 16 lbs. of sulphate of 

potash 
By looking at the foregoing table, one would think that 
instead of using a fertilizer for cabbage that analyzed 2 per 
cent nitrogen, 10 per cent phosphoric acid, and 4 per cent 
potash, you would need one with hke results to those found 
in the table, which are 4.8 pounds nitrogen, 1.68 pounds 
phosphoric acid, and 8 pounds of potash. The reason 
for using so much more phosphoric acid than is found by 
an analysis of a ton of cabbage is that there is less avail- 
able phosphoric acid in the soil than of either of the other 
elements. Generally speaking, most soils are deficient in 
available phosphoric acid. Phosphoric acid does not travel 
in the soil like the other chemicals, but remains just about 
where one puts it. 

LIME FOR CABBAGE 

There are few cabbage fields that will not be benefited 
by an apphcation of about 1 ton of caustic lime (freshly 
burned Ume) or its equivalent in one of the other two forms, 
raw ground rock or hydrated. 

Lime in the freshly burned state contains the most 



44 LATE CABBAGE 

calcium oxide per 100 pounds (calcium oxide is the soil- 
sweetening element in lime) of any of the three forms of 
commercial hme, i.e., caustic, raw ground rock, and hydrated. 

Taking freshly burned lime as a base or 100 per cent, 
the other forms are valued as follows: 100 pounds of lime 
rock when burned will make 56 pounds of caustic Hme. 
Caustic lime is made by fiUing large kilns with alter- 
nate layers of lime rock and coal, and then burning the 
coal; the result is that there is 44 per cent of gas liberated 
from the rock, leaving 56 per cent of lime. This being the 
case, ground hme rock is worth 56 per cent as much as 
caustic lime. Hydrated lime is worth 74 per cent as much 
as caustic lime. This is made by slaking freshly burned 
lime with steam; the process adds about 18 per cent of water, 
one form being just about as valuable as another, accord- 
ing to their respective percentage of pure lime. Fineness 
of any form is an important thing; when buying lime one 
has to take into account the percentages of pure lime in 
whatever form one buys. Freight rates also will have to 
be considered, and cost of hauhng and spreading. It can 
readily be seen that it will take nearly 2 tons of ground rock 
to do the same amount of good that 1 ton of caustic lime 
would do. Hydrated lime is about three-fourths as valuable 
as caustic lime. 

Here is a fair range of prices to go by when buying lime 
delivered at your R. R. station. 

Raw ground rock (very fine) $2.00 per ton 

Hydrated lime $3.00 

Caustic lime (lump form) $4 . 00 



FERTILIZATION 45 

If caustic lime is used in the lump form just as it comes 
from the kilns, it will have to be drawn to the field and 
put in piles to slake. Under ordinary weather conditions, 
it will take a pile of about 1 ton six weeks to slake ready 
for spreading. If handled in this way it is usually loaded 
into a wagon box after slaking and spread by hand with 
a shovel. One ton before slaking will usually make about 
2 tons afterwards. 

Some take a manure spreader and fill about half full of 
manure, then finish out with lime. As a rule it is not a 
good practice to spread lime and manure together. The lime 
has a tendency to liberate the nitrogen in the manure so 
that it will be lost. Some slake their lime in a shed by 
turning water on the pile; this must be run over a screen 
if sowed other than by hand and must be dry. Generally 
speaking caustic lime is easiest handled in a ground state. 

Any of the three forms that you decide to use should 
be applied broadcast and worked in. If you are treating 
a piece of ground for club root, from 2 to 4 tons of caustic 
lime will be necessary. The application should be made 
in the fall and worked into the soil as deeply as possible. 
(See Club Root, under chapter on diseases.) 



CHAPTER VII 

TRANSPLANTING FROM THE SEED BED TO THE 

FIELD 

WHEN TO TRANSPLANT 

This is a question that every one must decide for him- 
self. There are several points to be considered when making 
up your mind what the proper time is. First, what are 
you going to do with your cabbage? If you want the 
cabbage to car, that is, for shipment in the fall, they should 
be set in good season. In my locality, which is Central 
New York, this would be from the 10th to the 20th of 
June. If you are growing Domestics, a week or ten days 
earlier than the above date would be all right. 

If you intend to store your cabbage, it is best not to 
have them too ripe, and setting may be put off a week. 
Generally speaking, July set cabbage will make only soft, 
light heads; cabbage of this quahty is of poor flavor and 
is often strong and tough. Hard, crisp heads are always 
tender and of good flavor if they are grown from a good 
strain. (Fig. 10.) 

The weather conditions have a lot to do with the time 
to set, also the amount of available plant food. The drier 
the season, the earlier you should set, and the harder it 
will be to have your plants ready on time. Early-set 

46 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 47 

cabbage almost always produces much harder and heavier 
heads. Did I hear someone say that if you set early, 
your cabbage would crack? There may be a very little 
truth in this, but for every pound of cabbage you lose 




Fig. 10.— Cabbage at the right set June 15th; at the left, July 1st. 

by the cracking of a few heads you will gain 10 pounds 
on the smaller heads; besides, you will have the cracked 
heads to feed or sell for chicken feed or sauerkraut. 

I have heard many a man say, " I wish my cabbage 
had two weeks longer to grow. They are just doing fine." 



48 



LATE CABBAGE 




I 

a 

u 

O 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 49 

Let me tell you, the time to have those two weeks is in 
the spring. You cannot do business by that '* Guess I will 
get a crop " method, and get a crop every time. (Fig. 11.) 
Some of the years when cabbage brings a good price because 
the crop is short you will be the loser if you let things go 
by the " guess so " method. You can tell by the way a 




Fig. 12. — Field of Danish cabbage, July 1st. Success is assured here, 
as plants have a good start. 



load of cabbage rides in a wagon what kind of a man grew 
the crop. A good load of hard cabbage will ride in a 
wagon just as if the wagon was loaded with stones, while 
a load of soft heads will bound along as if they were so 
many cushions. Punks, most growers call them. 

I have seen two fields of cabbage set two weeks apart 
in a dry season; the early-set field produced nearly a full 



50 LATE CABBAGE 

crop, while the other one did not produce over one-half 
crop. 

Here is the reason — when it gets about July first, in 
a very dry year, the sun has taken from the soil a large por- 
tion of the spring moisture, unless you have been more 
careful about preserving it than most men are. The early- 
set crop gets a good root system established, which catches 
a large portion of this moisture, but you must do your 
part with the cultivator and keep a dust mulch on the 
surface. (Fig. 12.) 

APPLYING NITRATE OF SODA TO HASTEN SEEDLINGS 

If you see your plants are going to be late, you can 
hasten them somewhat by giving them a dressing of ni- 
trate of soda; if possible put it on just before a rain. From 
3 to 5 pounds sown on broadcast will answer for a bed 
of 1000 square feet. 

If the weather is very dry and there is no prospect of 
rain, dissolve 5 pounds in 100 gallons of water; apply this 
solution at night with a watering pot or any other con- 
venient method. This solution will not be strong enough 
to burn the plants; of course more water would be better. 

It will seldom be necessary to use any treatment on 
seedUngs under a screen of cheesecloth. 

TAKING UP SEEDLINGS 

It almost always pays to loosen the seedlings when taking 
them from the seed bed. Do not think you are in such a 
hurry that you can tear the plants out of the ground, 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 51 




52 LATE CABBAGE 

especially if it is dry, and then reset them and have them 
start quickly. If you destroy most of the root system, 
it will take a week to get a new one as large as the one 
you destroyed. 

If the plants to be taken up are in rows, a common 
spading fork or manure fork will make a good tool to loosen 
them with — simply shove it into the ground beside the row 
and pry over on the handle. This method has one objection, 
that is, it destroys all the plants that are not of suitable 
size. (Fig. 13.) A method that is perhaps better, although 
not quite as rapid, and the one which is used in taking 
up plants from a seed bed sown broadcast, is to take a 
screw-driver and loosen each plant. After a little practice 
a man will work quite rapidly and the plants will have a 
fine root system left on them. All the small plants will 
be left for future use or to sell if the market demands. 

Some of you will say this method is too fussy; maybe 
so, but it is the Uttle things done at the right time that 
bring success to the great things. 

As fast as you take them up, dip the roots in a pail of 
water ; this will keep them fresh much longer and they will 
be more easily handled. 

TRANSPLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING MACHINERY 

What is the best method to follow when transplanting 
cabbage? The time used to be when hand-setting was 
thought best, but that time has long gone by. Perhaps 
quite a portion of the growers are using two-horse machines. 
The two-horse setter consists of a barrel mounted on two 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 53 




Fig. 14. — Two-horse cabbajije setter. 




Fig. 15.— Two-iioi:5e Luuua^^ ^otter in operation. 



54 LATE CABBAGE 

low wheels. At the rear of each wheel and very near the 
ground is fastened a seat; just under and in front of each 
of these seats, is fastened a disk or a small plow that opens 
up a furrow into which the plant is placed by the men on 
these seats; then back of each seat is an arrangement which 
fills up the furrow into which the operators have just placed 
the roots of their plants. Then back of all this there are a 
pair of wooden rollers, which pack the furrow around the 
plants. 

From the barrel a lead of hose suppHes a stream of 
water to the furrow just after it has been opened. (Fig. 14.) 

This machine requires three men and a team to operate. 
(Fig. 15.) As a usual thing, the plants are set in rows 
only one way. I think it would be practically impossible 
to set plants as thickly as they should be where only medium 
small heads are wanted and row them both ways. This 
one way of rowing plants means that you must hand-hoe 
the crop, if you keep the weeds out of the rows. Most set- 
ting work with a two-horse machine is done very unevenly; 
the plants will be anywhere from 2 to 4 feet apart. If 
you ask the men what distance they are setting the plants 
the reply will usually be, from 20 to 30 inches on the average. 

After the rig has set an acre or so, you just measure off 
100 feet of a row, and then count the plants; nine times out 
of ten they will be much farther apart than the operator 
thinks. This uneven setting will account for some of the 
very undesirable large heads which some growers produce. 

For satisfactory work with a two-horse machine a good 
steady team is necessary and two very painstaking men. 
With these last conditions good work can be done. Of 



TRANSPLANTINd FROM SlOIOl) HVA) TO VIKIA) 55 

late a k^kkI iruiny ^;r()wors have been using i\m Masters 
hand pl.'intcr. (Sec Vi^r. If).) 




I'k;. 10. — Masters' hand plantor. 



This is a tool llinl for ^'cjirs has been uschI in the tobacco 
region. (Jf all ways to transplant cabbage the hand planter 



56 LATE CABBAGE 

is best in my opinion ; the cabbage can be rowed both ways 
and it does not require a lot of help and water. I never 
have seen the weather so dry that one could not go right 
along with setting when the proper time came if his field 
was properly fitted. 

The Masters hand planter consists of two tubes both 
of which open into a pair of steel jaws at the bottom. One 
tube carries water, which can be let out with the pressure 
of the thumb. The other tube is the one through which 
you drop the plants. The plants are carried in a Httle 
basket suspended by a string around the neck of the oper- 
ator. Simply place the setter where you want to plant. 
Its weight will carry it deep enough into the loose soil; 
drop in the plant with your free hand, then press the water 
button and the operation is done. When you raise the 
machine from the ground you open the jaws, leaving the 
plant in the ground with a little water which seals its roots 
to the already moist soil. You see the pointed steel jaws 
on the lower end of the setter go down through the dry 
dirt on the surface and all the setting is done in the moist 
soil without disturbing the dust mulch on the surface. 
There is no packing of the ground, so that the sun will draw 
out all the water you put in and leave the plant in a baked, 
hard lump of soil. 

Forty quarts of water are sufficient to water 1000 plants. 
What more could you ask than to have every plant set 
just where you want it, the roots being down in the moist 
soil with a httle water and a dust mulch on the surface 
to prevent evaporation? You have not driven all over 
your ground just after it has rained, the way you often do 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 57 

with a two-horse rig, and packed it all down. If you have 
marked your ground both ways, you can set the plants so 
you can cultivate both ways; this will let the cultivator 
keep down all weeds and no hard work will be necessary. 

A man can work this setter much more rapidly when 
the ground is dry. I use the Masters hand setter, and 
raise over 100 tons of cabbage annually, having never 
done any hand work on my crops or had a weedy field of 
cabbage. 

Three men with two of these setters, which only cost 
$4.00 each, will set and water as many plants per day as 
a two-horse rig, providing the two-horse rig has extra 
men to pull plants and a horse to draw water. The De- 
partment of Vegetable Gardening of Cornell made an esti- 
mate on the cost of setting one acre of cabbage by the 
two methods. 

TEAM SETTING 

Cost of Setting 2 Acres 

Setter double team and one man to drive ... $4 . 00 

Two men to operate setter @ $2.00 4.00 

Two men to pull plants and draw water 

@ $2.00 4.00 

Single horse to draw water 2 . 00 



Total $14.00 

This outfit will set about 2 acres per day at a cost of 
$14.00, or $7.00 per acre. 



58 LATE CABBAGE 

HAND SETTING 

Cost of Setting 2 Acres 

Two men, each having a hand setter, @ $2.00 $4 . 00 
One man to pull plants and draw water .... 2 . 00 
Single horse part of one-half day 1 . 00 



Total $7.00 

This outfit will set about 2 acres per day at a cost of 
$7.00, or $3.50 for one acre. There will be practically 
no skipped plants and every one will live, whereas by 
the team method there will be 'numerous skips and some 
plants will die which will have to be set in later, if a stand 
is maintained. 

The cost of a team setter is about $50.00, while 2 hand 
setters cost only $8.00. The difference in investment, 
interest on money and depreciation of machines are all 
worth looking at. Not every man wants to purchase a 
two-horse setter; therefore if he sets with one he must hire. 
This means waiting until he can get one or perhaps setting 
when his ground is not fit or the plants are too large. The 
cost of these hand setters is so small that every man can 
afford to own one and set when he pleases. This is of 
great value at such a busy time of year. If there are several 
men on the farm, the team can be kept going at some other 
work, and you can still push cabbage setting. It seems as 
if there are a few facts stated here that every thinking 
man would grasp. 



TRANSPLANTING FROM SEED BED TO FIELD 59 
PROPER DISTANCE APART TO SET CABBAGE 

The proper distance to set cabbage will depend upon 
the fertility of the ground, the size of heads you want, 
also upon the moisture supply, and time you set. 

Soil in good tilth, well top-dressed, will usually grow 
medium to large heads, if the rows are 3 feet apart and 
the cabbage 30 to 36 inches apart in the rows. For small 
to medium heads, rows 3 feet apart and 18 to 24 inches 
in the row will be about right. 

It is not usually satisfactory to place rows of late cab- 
bage closer than 3 feet, as one wishes to cultivate quite 
late as a general thing. The market will call cabbage 
weighing from 2 to 4 pounds small, from 4 to 6 medium, 
and from 6 up large. Generally speaking, the medium to 
small heads are most marketable. 

The following table gives the number of plants on an 
acre set at different distances. 

No. of Plants No. of Plants 

1 by 3 14,520 3 by 3 4,840 

1 by 3i 12,446 2i by 2 8,712 

1 by 4 10,890 2i by 2i 6,970 



11 by 1 29,040 2i by 3 5, 

11 by li 19,360 3 by 3J 4,148 

11 by 2 15,520 3 by 4 3,360 

11 by 2i 11,616 3 by 5 2,901 

11 by 3 9,680 3 by 6 2,420 

11 by 4 7,790 3^ by 3i 3,556 

2 by 2 10,890 3^ by 4 3,112 

2 by 3 7,260 4 by 4 2,722 

2 by3i 6,223 4 by 6 1,815 

2 by 4 5,415 



CHAPTER VIII 
CULTIVATION 

Perhaps it is useless to talk a great deal about culti- 
vation, as this is a subject that is discussed by every agri- 
cultural paper of the day. At the same time, I wish to 
say a little that is of vital importance to this special crop. 

There are few other crops that show the results of cul- 
tivation as much as does the cabbage. 

When I was a boy, my father used to let me have a 
piece of land on which to grow turnips. I used to govern 
the size of the turnips by the number of cultivations I 
gave them; that is, if, with the average number of culti- 
vations, the turnips were not getting the satisfactory size, I 
would cultivate oftener. I think this practice applies exactly 
to the cabbage crop. 

After every rain there will be a crust formed at the 
surface of the ground ; this means that there will be a direct 
communication from the up-coming soil water to the atmos- 
phere. This upward movement of soil water is what we 
call capillary attraction. We all know that when we break 
the crust and form what is called a dust mulch we check 
the loss of water from this source; when checked by the 
mulch, of course, the plant roots have a chance to take it. 

After every cultivation, new water passages commence 

60 



CULTIVATION 



61 



to form, as a result of the up-coming water dampening the 
under side of the dust mulch. Repeated cultivations, even 
though it has not rained, break these water passages, and 
the result is, you save more moisture for your crop. 

Cultivate from 8 to 12 times or more if you like. Each 
time you loosen up the surface, you give the crop more 
air and also check the evaporation. 




Fig. 17. — Planet Jr., cultivator rigged for shallow work, 



Plants need plenty of air ; one reason why a plant will not 
grow well on wet land is, because the soil is so full of water 
that the air cannot get in to aid the liberation of plant 
food. 

The cabbage plant simply fills the soil with roots, there- 



62 



LATE CABBAGE 



still maintain a good dust mulch. Fig. 17 shows a Planet 
Jr. cultivator rigged for shallow cultivation. 

If some one had told you that you could harvest 18 
tons of cabbage per acre if you would cultivate shallow, 
or only 12 tons if you cultivated deep, I am sure you 
would rig your cultivator for shallow work. Well, now, 




Fig. 18.— Spike-toothed cultivator, used where the rows are narrow. 



this is just about what the results are between the two 
methods. It is best to set cabbage in rows both ways, or 
check-row them, as it is often called. This will permit the 
use of a cultivator in keeping down all weeds between the 
plants as well as in the rows. Where the plants are closer 
together than 24 inches in the row, I use a spiked- 
tooth cultivator in going crosswise of the rows; usually 
one cannot get through more than twice or three times 



CULTIVATION 



63 



crosswise, as the leaves will be too large. While the 
plants are small, the deep cultivation the spike-tooth will 
give will do no harm, as the ground has not yet become 
filled with roots (Fig. 18). 




*1 



Fig. 19. — Planet Jr. cultivator with hoes turned in. Used when cab- 
bage are small if one wishes to get very close to the plants. 



When I commence to go the wide way of the row I turn 
the long end of the hoes or blades in on the back legs of 
the cultivator. This allows me to get very close to the 
cabbage once or twice, and get what few remaining weeds 
there may be (Fig. 19). Now, for the rest of the season 
turn the long end of the hoes out and you will find that you 
can cultivate so as to stir most of the surface dirt, even 



64 LATE CABBAGE 

under the large cabbage leaves, without breaking them 
off. See Fig. 17. 

Keep the cultivator going all the season. If the plants 
get very large, so that the leaves touch each other, I would 
choose the heat of the day for cultivating. Say, from 
10 A.M. until 4 P.M. During this period the cabbage are 
a httle wilted and will not break as readily. The cells 
are not quite so full of plant juice and this makes them a 
little more flabby. 

I do not like the two-horse cultivator for cabbage, 
nor any other machine that breaks the leaves or disturbs 
the plant. 

CABBAGE CRACKING 

In a dry season very frequent cultivations will prevent 
the plant from forming a small, hard head. If small, 
hard heads are allowed to form, they will almost always 
crack open if the weather turns wet in the fall, as it often 
does after a dry summer. The aim is to keep the plant 
growing freely. 

A few weeks before harvest a field often has quite a 
number of heads that crack and the longer the field stands 
the more heads there are that continue to crack. Here 
is a case where a very deep cultivation will do some good. 
It will break off a lot of the plant roots, thus stopping 
them from growing so rapidly. Another remedy is to take 
a four-tined fork and go over the field and loosen all plants 
that show signs of cracking. Place the fork tines straddle 
of the stump and raise up with the handle to the fork. 



CULTIVATION 65 

This will turn the cabbage half-way over, thus breaking a 
lot of the roots. 

In this chapter we have found that we cultivate for 
four distinctive reasons: 

1. For the preservation of moisture. 

2. To kill weeds. 

3. Admission of air into the soil. 

4. Preventing bursting of mature heads in certain 
seasons. 



CHAPTER IX 
INSECT ENEMIES 

Like many other of our vegetable crops, the cabbage 
has an insect pest, which commences to feed upon it as 
soon as the cotyledons are out of the ground. There seems 
to be quite a succession of pests to fight, even up to the time 
the cabbage commences to head. 

FLEA-BEETLE 

The flea-beetle (Epitrix cucumeris) is the first insect 
enemy the cabbage has. It is a small insect about -j^ of an 
inch long with a black body and dull yellow legs. Its legs 
are very stout and will enable the beetle to jump hke a 
flea if it is disturbed; this is where it gets the name ''flea- 
beetle." 

The flea-beetle commences its work on the young cab- 
bage plants as soon as they are out of the ground. While 
it is a biting insect, it is not effectively controlled by poi- 
sonous sprays ; to protect the young plants the most effective 
method is the use of the cheesecloth screen. (See chapter 
on Screening.) 

There is also another quite effective remedy used; this 
consists of the use of some very fine dust, which is applied 
to the young plants while the dew is on, as it sticks better 

66 



INSECT ENEMIES 67 

when the plants are damp. Very fine dry Ume, wood ashes, 
soot, and land plaster are all used with about equal success. 
A person usually needs to be quite watchful of his seed- 
lings for the first week, as these beetles seem to come without 
warning. They winter over in the winged stage, and are all 
ready for business upon the first appearance of the cabbage 
seedUngs; they also feed upon the tomato and potato. 
Keeping fields cleared from rubbish will help to lessen 
their wintering quarters. The female beetle lays eggs in 
the soil in June or July, which hatch into small, slender 
worm-hke larvae; these larvae feed upon potatoes and other 
fleshy roots. It was formerly believed that there was but 
one Htter of brood here in the north, but it has lately been 
found that there are eggs deposited early enough in the 
spring so that the larvae damage the cabbage seedling root 
to some extent. 

THE CABBAGE MAGGOT 

Of all insects that trouble the cabbage, I believe the 
maggot (Pegomya hrassicce) is the worst. The parent insect 
of the maggot is a fly, resembhng the common house-fly 
but somewhat smaller. This fly deposits its eggs near the 
stems of the cabbage plants when they are only a few 
weeks old. These eggs hatch into small white larvae or 
maggots, which at once commence to feed upon the root 
system of the plants. Very frequently whole seed beds are 
ruined by their work. (See Fig. 5, chapter on Screening.) 

In three or four weeks the maggots get their full growth 
and change into brown oval objects called puparia; in 
about two weeks more an adult fly emerges and is ready 



68 LATE CABBAGE 

to start a second litter of brood. The insect passes the 
winter as a puparium in the soil; the second litter of brood 
often make considerable trouble with cabbage after they 
are set in the field. 

There are several methods of treatment that are effective; 
screening the seedlings with cheesecloth is a positive pre- 
vention. (See chapter on Screening.) The next most 
effective remedy is spraying of the plants in the seed bed 
and all foliage nearby with the following solution: One- 
fifth ounce white arsenic, 1 pint molasses, and 1 gallon 
of water. This application should be repeated once in 
seven days and also after every rain. This solution will be 
eaten by the flies which come to lay eggs; as a result they 
will be killed, therefore no maggots will be produced. I 
think if a bee-keeper lived nearby, it would be wise not to 
use this method, as it probably would cause him consider- 
able damage, for which one might be liable. A trap crop 
of radishes sown ten days ahead of the cabbage and kept 
sprayed with the white arsenic solution is also very effective. 

If the cabbage plants are in rows, and the maggots are 
already at work, one-third of the dirt on one side of the 
rows may be removed, and a 10 per cent solution of crude 
carbolic acid and water applied which will kill the maggots; 
after the application replace the dirt again. 

If the maggots are at work on the plants which are 
set in the field, apply the carbolic acid solution to each 
plant. 

Placing a small tarred paper pad around each plant 
has been recommended. This method is practical for 
small areas. 



INSECT ENEMIES 69 

CUTWORMS 

After setting the cabbage seedling in the field, one 
often finds many plants cut off just at the surface of the 
ground. The cutworm is usually the cause of the trouble. 
There are several species of cutworms. They are the larvae 
of the night-flying moths; these moths usually lay their 
eggs in sod ground in the late summer or early fall. The 
eggs soon hatch and the httle worms feed upon grass roots 
and the like until cold weather. In the late fall they go 
down deep into the ground and stay over winter. By 
cabbage-setting time in the spring they are large enough 
to eat off the stems of quite large plants. They usually come 
to the surface of the ground to do their work. Most all 
feeding is done at night and in the day time they lay hidden 
under rubbish or burrow down in the ground near the 
plant. 

For large areas, fall plowing and thorough spring prep- 
aration will destroy large numbers. For small areas, pre- 
pare fresh-cut clover or small bunches of cabbage leaves 
and soak them in Paris green and water, or some similar 
poison, and scatter these over the field before the cabbage 
are set. Be careful that poultry or stock do not get this 
poisoned material. 

Another means of protection for small areas is to wrap 
stiff paper around the stem of each plant; these papers 
should extend into the ground about ^ inch and at least 
IJ inches above ground. 

For a field already set, where the worms are at work 
quite badly, the following will be found very effective: 



70 LATE CABBAGE 

Make a poison bait of ten pounds of bran, 1 pound of White 
Arsenic or Paris green, moisten with just enough water to 
make the material hold together; to sweeten the mixture 
add a quart of cheap molasses. A small handful of this 
bait should be placed near each plant in the evening, so 
that the worms will be attracted to it during the night. 

MAY BEETLE 
(Lachnostema fusca) 

The large, dark-brown, night-flying May beetle is familiar 
to almost everyone. It lays its eggs in May or June among 
grass roots. In about one month these eggs hatch, and the 
larvae begin to feed upon roots of all sorts. They continue 
to feed and grow summer after summer until the third year, 
when they change back to a parent beetle again. During 
the winter they burrow deep into the ground and remain 
dormant in a sort of egg-shaped earthen cell. 

It is in the larval state that the damage is done to the 
cabbage crop. These larvae, or more often called potato 
grubs, will eat off the roots of a cabbage plant, causing 
its death. They work a great deal worse in ground that 
has not been plowed for several years, such as where an 
old pasture or meadow of three or four years' standing 
is put to cabbage. Fall plowing and working of the land 
are of value in destroying the pest. It is often advisable 
not to put land of this kind to cabbage the first year after 
it is broken up. Sow it to millet or something of that 
sort the first year, then put it to cabbage the following 
year. 



INSECT ENEMIES 71 

CRICKETS 

The common black cricket often makes considerable 
trouble in a field of cabbage just after the plants are set. 
Their work is often confused with that of the cutworm. 
They attack the stem of the cabbage plant and eat a por- 
tion of it away; often they cut it entirely off. They hide 
under stones or rubbish of all sorts and are always ready 
for mischief. 

In a field where they are making trouble, it is best to 
start the cultivation as soon as possible; this seems to drive 
them away and break up their hiding places. Start the 
cultivator in the center of the field and work towards each 
edge. If they are noticed jumping around while the cabbage 
are being set, it is a good plan to dispose of them. The 
use of a bran mash the same as described for cutworm 
will be found valuable. 

GREEN CABBAGE WORM 
(Pontia Rapae) 

We have two species of the green cabbage worms. One 
a native, the other a European pest. The butterflies are 
very much alike for both species, there being only a slight 
difference in the wing markings; they are nearly white when 
young with a few dark spots on the wings. 

According to Sempers, as the butterflies age they charge 
to a yeflower color. It is a very common sight to see them 
flying over a cabbage field. (Fig. 20.) 

The eggs are laid on the under side of the leaves and 



72 



LATE CABBAGE 



hatch in about one week. The worms from the two species 
differ in color, the imported species being green, while 
our native one is pale blue with yellow stripes. The Uttle 
worms grow very fast as a result of their very rapid eating; 
in about two weeks they get their full growth and transform 
into a chrysalis. In this state they stay from one to two 
weeks, whence they hatch into a butterfly again. There are 





Fig. 20. — Imported cabbage worm. a. Larva, 
butterfly. (Riley.) 



h. Chrysalis. 



Male 



usually about three litters of brood during a season, and 
the last one passes the winter in the chrysahs stage. 

The pest seldom does as much damage as a person thinks 
when he looks at the ragged leaves which they have made. 

They may be controlled by spraying with arsenate of 
lead, 3 pounds to 50 gallons of water, or with Paris green, 
1 pound to 150 gallons of water; a little Bordeaux sticker 
added to the solution will help to make it adhere to the 
leaves better. The following is the formula for the sticker: 



INSECT ENEMIES 73 

2 pounds resin, 1 pound sal-soda and 1 gallon of water; 
cook over a slow fire until it is an amber color. 

This poison may be put on dry if desired, 1 pound Paris 
green mixed with 20 pounds of air-slaked Hme or flour, 
applied with powder gun or sifter. It is best to make the 
application when the dew is on, as the powder will stick 
much longer; there is little danger in applying poison to 
cabbage before the heads are half -grown. The plant grows 
from the center and none of the outside leaves ever fold 
to make the heads. 

There is a practice often followed which will be found 
of value in destroying the first crop of worms which hatch. 
If the first crop is destroyed, a great reduction will be made 
in the butterflies which lay the eggs. Put | pound of 
arsenate of lead in a pail of water, into which the tops 
of the plants are dipped as fast as they are taken from the 
seed bed; this coats over the entire plant, so that any 
worms which might hatch from eggs upon these plants 
will be destroyed. 

OTHER LEAF-EATING WORMS 

There are several other leaf-eating worms which are 
appearing in various parts of the country. The Cabbage 
Plusia worm (Plusia brassicoe) is one that is making some 
little trouble; it eats irregular holes in the leaves and also 
burrows into the heads of cabbage. When full grown, it 
is about 2 inches long and of a pale green color with paler 
longitudinal stripes on its sides and back. It belongs to 
the measuring worm or looper family, as this is the manner 
in which it travels. 



74 LATE CABBAGE 

Any of these leaf-eating worms which appear early in 
the season may be treated the same as the green cabbage 
worm. If they are troublesome, when the cabbage have 
attained considerable size, the use of pyrethrum or helle- 
bore is recommended. Hot water at a temperature of 130 
degrees F. will kill all such worms which it reaches. 

CABBAGE APHIS 

(Aphis Brassicae) 

The cabbage aphis or louse is a very peculiar insect, 
usually covered with a flour-like powder. The adult is 
not much larger than the head of a pin; some of them are 
winged and some are not; in shape they resemble the rest of 
the louse family. They have great powers of reproduction, 
rearing from 12 to 20 htters of brood in a single season, 
and in turn the young multiply when only six days old. 
The female lice can either lay eggs or produce young alive; 
it takes only a few lice to soon rear a large family. 

In certain dry, hot seasons they seem to cause con- 
siderable trouble with cabbage and cauliflower; the lice 
seem to be in famihes or colonies and have power to curl 
the leaves so that they are difficult to get at. Being a 
sucking insect they must be controlled by some contact 
spray, the foflowing being very satisfactory: Take f of a 
pint of Black Leaf 40, 4 pounds of dissolved soap, and 
from 60 to 80 gallons of water. 

Small fields may be sprayed with a knapsack sprayer, 
but for large areas a power orchard outfit with two leads 
of hose does best work. The plants require a thorough 



INSECT ENEMIES 75 

wetting of both sides of the leaves and also in the center 
of the plant; two applications of this kind will entirely- 
free a field from lice. Sometimes a little squirt hand spray- 
can be used to advantage when there are only a few scattered 
patches. Kerosene emulsion will also kill the Hce. 

A few Uce on an occasional seedhng at setting time will 
spread the pest pretty evenly over an entire field. The 
pest is often best controlled by kilUng these first lice on 
the young plants. 

Here is a very effective remedy: Take a twelve- or 
fourteen-quart pail of Black Leaf 40 solution made by the 
above formula, and as fast as you pull your plants dip 
the tops into it ; this will kill all hce and prevent spreading 
from this source. By adding J pound of arsenate of lead 
to each pail of Black Leaf 40 solution, you can treat the 
plants for green cabbage worms and plant lice at the same 
time. (See Green Worms.) 

All sucking insects breathe through pores in their bodies, 
and by using some spray solution which has an oily or 
soapy nature, you can coat them over, which will close 
these pores and smother the insects. 

SOFT-SHELLED SNAILS 

In the past few years this slug has been causing some 
damage to late cabbage after the heads are nearly mature. 
The slug much resembles the shelled snail, except that the 
shell is missing; they are a slimy, oval-shaped slug, shding 
along in the same manner as the shelled snail, eating at 
random on the head when young. They often grow to the 



76 LATE CABBAGE 

size of a chestnut, and it is when they attain this size that 
the very worst damage is done. They will burrow down 
into a head | inch or more, making it look very unsightly. 
Later most of the eating will be done on the under side 
of the head, because here they are protected by the outer 
leaves; this is especially true when the weather gets cooler 
in the fall. In cool, damp seasons this slug makes the most 
trouble. 

The snails do not stay on the cabbage all of the time, 
but may be found in the day time hidden under stones or 
rubbish near the plants. Probably most of their eating is 
done at night. Their work is often confined to certain por- 
tions of a field ; this being the case, they may be destroyed 
in small fields by furnishing hiding quarters for them, 
such as small pieces of boards or stones. The snails will 
hide under these during the day time and may be destroyed 
by removing their shelter and killing them. Very likely 
many of them could be destroyed by scattering bunches of 
poisoned cabbage leaves or clover through the portions of 
the fields where they are making trouble. (See Cutworms.) 
Spraying is not to be recommended, as the cabbage are 
usually too near ready for harvest, and it would not be 
safe to use poison. 

If there is a fair market for cabbage, it would be ad- 
visable to cut the portion of the field where the snails are 
at work and sell them; under the circumstances this has 
been found about as satisfactory as anything. The re- 
maining portion of the plant will keep the snails from 
searching for food elsewhere. 

If the cabbage are stored, some of the snails may be 



INSECT ENEMIES 77 

carried into storage under the loose outer leaves; these 
seldom do much more damage unless the storing is done 
very early. Cabbage which have many holes eaten into 
them had better be sold as damaged stock, rather than be 
put into storage, as these holes will only furnish places for 
decay to start. 



CHAPTER X 
CABBAGE DISEASES 

There are several diseases of the late cabbage that 
every grower should be famihar with for this reason, i.e., 
most diseases of the cabbage are contagious and have the 
power to live in the soil for a lengthy period of years. One 
of these diseases, known as ''Wilt, or Yellows," has been 
known to live a period of fifteen years ; most of the diseases 
cause a greater per cent of loss to the crop than diseases 
of other crops. Once they get a foothold on a crop, they 
sweep with unabated fury. I saw a neighbor who was an 
expert grower set 11 acres, using plants that showed only 
a little disease, and lose his entire crop. The loss did not 
stop with the present crop, but the soil is infested for years 
to come. Once soil is infested it is pretty hard to keep 
from spreading the disease to other fields through dirt on 
farm machinery; animals will carry it on their feet and with 
some of the diseases it can be spread by feeding the diseased 
plants to stock, then spreading the manure on new fields. 
Soil washing from one field to another is also a means of 
spreading disease, 

CLUB ROOT 

Almost every person who has had a garden to work 
with is familiar with club root on some cruciferous plant 

78 



CABBAGE DISEASES 



79 



he has grown (Fig. 21). The lower end of the main stem 
of the plant enlarges into an irregularly shaped mass; with 




Fig. 21. — Club-root of cabbage. 



the cabbage the plant grows Uttle if any, and usually has 
a pinkish look. 

It is a sUme mold disease (Plasmodiophora hrassicoe) 



80 LATE CABBAGE 

and has the power to live in the soil for a period of about 
six years only, if the ground is kept free from cruciferous 
crops during that period. It is more prevalent during wet 
seasons, and the disease will often develop on wet low 
ground. 

Plants from a seed bed which show only a trace of the 
disease should not be used for setting, as they will only 
inoculate the whole field into which you set them. 

Any means by which soil or water from a diseased field 
is transferred to a healthy one should be avoided. The 
best cure is a long rotation of the crop upon diseased fields, 
say about six years, and in the meantime keep the soil free 
from any cruciferous crop and from the weed, " mustard." 

Lime greatly helps to hold it in check. The use of from 
2 to 4 tons per acre of caustic lime, or its equivalent in 
other forms, is recommended. The appHcation should be 
made at least six months before the crop is set ; this will 
give it time to act upon the soil. It should be worked 
in the full depth of the furrows if possible. 

If a field is put out to cabbage two years in succession 
the crop will be pretty apt to show the disease more or 
less the second year, even though none was present the 
first year. Low land along streams is subject to the dis- 
ease, especially if it floods some time during the year. 

Do not forget to rotate the seed bed; you cannot grow 
a healthy crop from plants raised in a diseased bed. The 
disease is widespread and causes the loss of a great many 
acres annually. 



CABBAGE DISEASES 81 



BLACK ROT 



Black rot is caused by the bacteria Bacterium campestre 
(Pammel). This disease causes nearly as much loss to 
growers as does the club root; it is, as its name implies, 
a rotting of the plant; the plant may be affected while it 
is still in the seed bed. The disease is bacterial and usually 
enters the plant through the water passages which are 
found at the ends of the veins at the margin of the leaves. 
In a few cases infection takes place through the roots ; the 
disease is also spread by dust in the air, insects, water 
washing from one field to another, dirt on animals' feet, 
manure when diseased cabbage have been fed, and it is 
very readily carried on the seed, if the seed is grown where 
the disease is present; it will stick to their oily seed coat 
and be transferred with them. (See Seed Treatment, 
Chapter IV.) 

I have seen a great many acres of cabbage lost just 
because people were careless about the sources of their 
seed, or they neglected to treat it. (Fig. 22.) An affected 
plant first shows portions of its outer leaves turning yellow ; 
later these portions turn brown and dry up. Take an 
affected leaf from a suspected plant and cut off the lower 
end of the midrib, and if the disease is present the water 
passages will look black ; in bad cases the stump has a black 
ring just inside the woody portion; this may be seen by 
cutting a cross-section. The center of the stump or pith 
may be entirely rotten. The bacteria seem to follow towards 
the center of the plant as soon as they enter the leaves. 
Once the disease gets into the head, if there is one, rotten 



82 



LATE CABBAGE 



leaves will be found scattered here and there, and often the 
whole head rots and falls off. Plants may be only slightly 
affected and the heads look perfectly sound, but after a 
period of storage the head will be rotten inside. 




Fig. 22.— Field affected with black rot. Some plants look all right, 
but close examination shows the main stem affected. 



There is no known cure for the disease. A rotation of 
about four years is necessary before cabbage are grown on 
diseased soil again, usually the bacteria will not live in the 
soil longer than this period. A cold, damp season seems 
to help propagate the disease very rapidly. 

We find the disease more in the older sections, especially 



CABBAGE DISEASES 83 

where they have been growing seed for years. There is 
also a difference in strains of cabbage about contracting 
the disease; the strain I have been growing, so far, seems 
to be very resistant to the disease. (See Cabbage Seed, 
Chapter III.) 

WILT OR YELLOWS 

This disease is caused by a microscopic organism (Fusa- 
rium sp.) 

It enters the plant through the roots and works up the 
stem to the leaves. The lowest leaf is the first to be affected; 
the whole or only part of the leaf may be affected. First it 
turns yellow, then brown, and finally drops off; this course 
is followed right up the plant, until only the head is left. 
The httle buds on the stem often start to grow if the head 
is of much size, the same dying of the leaves is noticed if 
the plant is affected in the seed bed. 

Browning of the woody portion of the stem is another 
characteristic ; it spreads by any inoculative means, including 
disease on the seed. Water from a ditch out of a diseased 
field, if used for setting plants, will spread the disease. All 
seed should be treated, if their source is not known, as 
described in Chapter IV. 

The duration of the disease seems to be much greater 
than that of the black rot, as fifteen years between two 
crops has not been long enough to cause the organisms 
to die. 

Ohio and Wisconsin have had the most trouble with 
the disease, but it is fast spreading to New York State. 
Some of the seed-growing districts have it, so it is well to 



84 LATE CABBAGE 

be cautious. Many localities that paid no attention to it 
when it first started have had to give up growing cabbage 
entirely. Keep your soil free from this disease — it is surely 
worse than weeds. 

BLACK LEG OR FOOT ROT 

Black leg is caused by a fungus called Phoma oleracea 
Sacc. The infection takes place anywhere on the stem and 
also at the margin of the leaves, or anywhere there is a 
wound on the plant. The disease always works down and 
causes the decay of the root system; the leaves do not fall 
from the plant as is the case with the yellows. Infected 
portions look dead and brown, with many small raised 
specks scattered over them. From these little specks ooze 
out myriads of one-celled spores which are subject to the 
many means by which dust is scattered, and so infection 
is easily spread. Wet weather is exceptionally favorable 
to its spread. 

Wilting of the whole plant is a characteristic symptom; 
also a purplish tint to the foliage just before the plant 
dies. Dark, heavy soils are subject to the disease. It will 
be well to note the following precautions: Treat all seed 
before sowing, rotate the crop; this disease is very bad to 
spread from an affected seed bed, therefore be very careful 
where you puty our seed bed if the disease has been present 
on your place in the past. 



CABBAGE DISEASES 85 

DOWNY MILDEW OR BLIGHT 

This disease is caused by a fungus, known to scientists 
as Peronospora parasitica DeBary. The mold on the 
lower surface of the leaves consists of fruiting bodies of the 
the fungus, while the vegetative portions of the fungus are 
within the leaves. 

Downy mildew of cabbage attacks the leaves, producing 
pale yellow spots, more or less angular in shape and limited 
by the vein. The lower surface of the diseased spot is usually 
covered with a thin coating of downy white mold; usually 
these spots become brown and die. The disease is seldom 
destructive in the field, but does considerable damage in 
the seed bed. 

Any plants found affected at setting time should be 
destroyed, not set. The plants should not be grown too 
thickly; then if the disease appears, spray the plants every 
week with Bordeaux mixture made by the formula, 4 pounds 
blue vitriol, 4 pounds Ume, and 50 gallons water. 

DAMPING OFF 

This is a disease of very young seedlings and may be 
caused by one of several species of fungus. One will have 
very httle trouble from this disease when plants are sown 
in the open and not crowded so as to cause them to be 
continuously damp, down among the stems. It is a com- 
mon trouble in greenhouses when a high humidity is main- 
tained and there is lack of sunshine or free circulation of 
air. The fungus attacks the stem of the young plant and 



86 LATE CABBAGE 

destroys the outer layer or skin, then the plant soon topples 
over and dies. 

Prevention is the best remedy. Do not use soil where 
it has occurred previously and avoid excessive moisture 
conditions; do not water plants in the evening. 

Some means of drying up the surface of the soil, such 
as spreading on a layer of heated sand, is to be recommended. 
If seedlings are very valuable, resetting is advisable; set 
them this time where there will be good ventilation and 
sunshine. 



CHAPTER XI 
HARVESTING CABBAGE AND ROUGHAGE 

WHEN TO HARVEST LATE CABBAGE 

The time to harvest late cabbage will depend upon 
what you are going to do with the crop. If you expect to 
sell to some shipper or ship them yourself to the city for 
consumption in a few weeks or draw to a kraut factory, let 
the crop stand just as long as you dare and not have it get 
frozen or excessively ripe. 

In the late fall the cabbage plant has its largest root 
system, and often gains in weight faster than any time 
in the whole season. If you expect to store the crop or 
sell for storage, you will not want to let it get quite as 
mature. When a cabbage head is over-ripe you will notice, 
by turning the head over, and looking at the point where 
the leaves which form the head start from the main stem 
or stump, there will be a dark streak. This dark streak 
shows that the leaf is about ready to separate. Sometimes 
you will find the leaves already loosened; cabbage where 
the leaves have loosened are not marketable, and should 
go in with the cracked heads. (Fig. 23.) 

Very early setting, wide spacing, and a wet season are 
usually the cause for most over-ripe cabbage. 

87 



LATE CABBAGE 



HARVESTING METHOD 



When I think of harvesting a crop, I always want to do 
it the easiest and quickest way. The method I have used 
is as follows. Start at one edge of your field and count 
off twelve rows, then cut the next three rows of heads and 



Hi 


!■ 


^^^Hr< N^^J^ ^ j0^' r^^^^F; 


■■■jn?---iH 




/^T^y J^^H 


r 





Fig. 23. — Over-ripe head. Note how the leaves have loosened from 
the main stem. 



lay them to one side, also cut the stumps and leaves of 
these three rows and throw them to one side with a three- 
tined fork; this now gives a road in which to drive when 
loading. Follow the same order all through the field, the 



HARVESTING CABBAGE AND ROUGHAGE 



89 



work of dividing a field into lands of twelve rows each I 
always term " opening up." (Fig. 24.) 

This allows a strip six rows wide for each side ot the 
wagon, the same being far enough to toss a cabbage head 
to the man in the wagon. 




Fig. 24.-Field of cabbage with roads cut through it. Now it is in 
shape to harvest the heads. 

If cabbage are cut and left on the ground any length 
of time, place them stump end down; this will prevent them 
from drying out or freezing badly, should the weather turn 
suddenly cold. After the first land is cut, the men can start 
and load the wagon, while the teamster is unloadmg the 
men can cut more cabbage; this keeps all working, so there 



90 



LATE CABBAGE 



is no lost time, it also gives the men a chance to change 
kinds of work. If the distance to market or storage is 
very great, perhaps several teams will work to best advan- 
tage. (Fig. 25.) 




Fig. 25. — When tlicic uic .^uuc ruad.^ an auto truck or rig that will 
hold three or four tons greatly reduces the number of trips to 
market. 



TOOLS FOR CUTTING HEADS 

Of all tools to cut the heads out with, the one with the 
wide blade and T-handle shown in the center of the illus- 
tration (Fig. 26) suits me best; with this the head is cut 
and all trimmed at one operation. This saves a lot of extra 
work and time. The power required to cut the head 
comes direct from the shoulder and there are no lame 



HARVESTING CABBAGE AND ROUGHAGE 



91 



arms or wrists, as is often the case with a knife or many 
other devices. Some use a small hatchet, but the objec- 




FiG 26.— Harvesting tools. Left, tobacco shears for cutting roughage, 
Center, T-handled head-cutting knife. Right, Geneva head-cut- 
ting knife. 



tion to this is that many heads will be cut into, while others 
will not be trimmed close enough. 

There are none of these objectionable features when 
using the T-handle cutter. With the hand a man pushes 
down the loose outside leaves so that he can see just the 



92 LATE CABBAGE 

right place to put his cutter; a quick push will sever the 
head. 

Cabbage to be stored do not want to be trimmed quite 
as closely as those for shipment; one or two outside leaves 
help to protect the head. 

This tool is very simple and can be made by anyone 
from a piece of an old blade of a handsaw. The blade is 
about 3 inches wide and 4 inches long; this is riveted to 
a half-inch iron shank which is about 7 inches long, on the 
end of this shank is a wooden handle about 4 inches long. 
A piece of an old fork handle is about right size for the 
handle. 

The cabbage cutter with the spading fork handle may 
work all right, but I could never get used to it. This is 
the one shown at the extreme right in the illustration (see 
Fig. 26). Cabbage cannot be cut and trimmed with accu- 
racy with this tool. 

FREEZING CABBAGE 

A few light freezes seldom do any harm to a cabbage. 
Over-ripe heads will be damaged quicker than those that 
are not so mature. If a head freezes sohd once and does 
not stay frozen very long, it is seldom damaged; a second 
freeze is apt to make it turn red in the center and it is 
then termed a red heart; such cabbage are worthless for 
market. Handling frozen cabbage is not advisable, as they 
will bruise readily. 

Freezing the stump and center bud of a head does far 
more harm than freezing a few outside leaves. It is always 
advisable to place heads stump end down when cutting, 



HARVESTING CABBAGE AND ROUGHAGE 



93 



unless they are to be drawn immediately. It the weather 
turns suddenly cold, and a head is placed stump end down 
upon the ground, the warmth of the ground will prevent 
the stump from freezing, unless the weather is extreme. 

COVERING HEADS IN THE FIELD TO PREVENT FREEZING 
Often during cabbage harvest one wishes to keep part 
of his crop for a short period or he may be a httle behind 
in his work, so there is danger of heavy freezing of the 
crop Under these circumstances all hands can turn in and 
cut the cabbage, placing about six rows into one with the 
stumps down; now take the tobacco shears shown at the 
left in Fig. 26 and cut the roughage and throw it over this 
row of heads. Care should be taken to protect the sides 
of the row as well as the top. If the cabbage leaves or 
roughage are turned in a reverse way from that m which 
they grew, they will shingle over the row in better shape; 
cabbage protected in this way will stand quite severe 
weather. There is more danger from freezing if a heavy 
wind comes with the cold. The leaves or roughage over 
the heads hold the warmth of the ground from passing off, 
thereby keeping the heads from freezing. 

Three men will cut and cover an acre or more in a day. 
If a hght snow should come, this will greatly aid m pro- 
tecting the heads. 

HARVESTING ROUGHAGE 
The roughage should be stored in such a manner that it 
will keep green as long as possible. In my locality nearly 
every one who does not turn his stock into a field cuts 



94 



LATE CABBAGE 



the roughage with tobacco shears (see Fig. 26), and throws 
it into piles about the size of a large haycock. (Fig. 27.) 

The work should be done if possible before the rough- 
age freezes very much, as freezing injures its keeping qual- 
ities. At the same time it is best not to pile the roughage 




Fig. 27. — Method of storing cabbage roughage. Piles will not be as 
large after they have stood a while. 



until just about freezing weather, as it does not keep 
well when it is warm. A common three-tined pitchfork 
is the handiest tool to pile with. It also aids the piling 
if the leaves are not broken from the plants any more 
than is necessary. 



HARVESTING CABBAGE AND ROUGHAGE 95 

Turning stock into a field of roughage always seemed 
wasteful to me. The stock will waste as much as they 
will eat. If it is intended to adopt this way of feeding, it 
is preferable to fence off a small portion of the field at a 
time, and let the stock clean this up before giving range 
to any more. 

AMOUNT OF ROUGHAGE PER ACRE 

On one acre of cabbage that cut 20 tons of heads, it is 
quite safe to say that there will be 15 tons of roughage. 
Surely no thinking dairy man or sheep raiser will waste 
this amount of feed. 

If it is not intended to use the roughage for feed, plow 
it under as soon as possible; this will prevent it from dry- 
ing up and blowing away. It is quite valuable as a 
fertilizer, as will be seen by looking at the table in Chap- 
ter VII, under the head of " Amount of Fertihzer Removed 
by One Ton of Cabbage." 



CHAPTER XII 
STORAGE 

Many cabbage growers as well as middlemen make it 
a point to store large quantities of cabbage to supply the 
city trade during the winter. 

As cold weather in the fall approaches, the demand 
for large quantities of cabbage begins and usually continues 
well through the winter or until the early cabbage from 
the South comes into the northern markets. As the winter 
advances, it is safe to say the price of cabbage also advances, 
but, of course, with more or less variation. Prices range 
anywhere from $3.00 to $40.00 per ton. When cabbage 
are cheap the kraut factories put up large quantities. 
(Fig. 28.) 

There are several successful methods of storing cabbage. 
Commission men or growers who store cabbage either cover 
them out of doors or have a house especially constructed 
for this purpose. 

STORING CABBAGE OUT OF DOORS 

Most cabbage that are not stored in a building of some 
sort are laid on the ground stump end down, and covered 
with straw, leaves, swamp hay, or any other handy material, 
to prevent freezing. 

96 



STORAGE 



97 




'S 

C 

o 



98 



LATE CABBAGE 



The heads should be placed as closely together as pos- 
sible, to economize covering material. (Fig. 29.) 

They are placed onh^ one head deep, unless some very 
sheltered spot is available and one does not expect to keep 
them a great while. Under such conditions they may be 
placed several heads deep. The covering material will have 




Fig. 29. — Storing cabbage outdoors. 



to be thicker where heads are more than one deep, owing 
to lack of the warmth which the ground affords where 
all heads are placed directly upon it. 

A protected location is to be desired; some place should 
be selected where the snow^ does not blow off, as the snow 
is a great aid to covering. Perhaps the most suitable spot 



STORAGE 99 

is in the woods. Get back into the timber far enough so 
that the wind does not blow the snow much. This will 
usually be from 5 to 8 rods. Very little covering will be 
needed in proximity to thick timber, whether large or 
small; the object in covering is simply to keep the heads 
from freezing. The cooler they can be kept and yet not 
freeze, the better. There are several advantages in storing 
in the woods that will not be found in the open ; first, there 
is good drainage. The leaf mold is loose and light and 
lets off all surplus water. Do not store in any place 
where it is wet. The woods are alwaj^s clean, so that the 
cabbage do not get all daubed up, as is often the case on 
plowed land. The timber catches the snow, and during 
warm spells it does not thaw as rapidly as in the open. 
Cabbage covered in an open field where the wind can hit 
them will freeze more quickly with the thermometer at 20 
deg. F. than they will in the woods or some sheltered place 
if it goes down to zero, other things being equal. 

Usually enough leaves can be raked in the woods to 
cover a small area, but if there are several acres, covering 
material will be needed from some other source. There 
is nothing better for covering than leaves, as they lay flat, 
forming a tight cover which holds down the warmth of the 
ground. 

With the thin covering that is ordinarily necessary, 
they will not get too warm in the woods. There is danger 
in getting on too much covering material; an over-supply is 
apt to keep the heads too warm, and cause them to get 
shmy or decay on the outside. Cabbage in the open will 
need nearly twice as much as those in the woods, where 



100 



LATE CABBAGE 



the ground freezes only a little, if any. Wherever stored 
out of doors, they need to be watched and more material 
added if extreme weather prevails. Cabbage for storage 
need to be handled with care, as bruises make the leaves 
turn dark, entailing more waste at trimming time. 




Fig. 30. — Storing cabbage over a board-covered trench to allow ven- 
tilation when earth is used for protection. 



Seasons and localities differ, so that there can be few 
set rules given ; at any rate the work is not difficult and with 
a little practice the safety of the crop can be assured. 

There is another method of out-of-door storage that 
is very successful, but is not as highly recommended, owing 
to extra labor involved. It consists in digging a trench 
2| feet wide and 1 foot deep, across which are laid pieces 



STORAGE 101 

of 2X4; these are placed about 3 feet apart and support 
boards enough to cover the trench, leaving 4 to 5 inch cracks 
between the boards. The heads are now placed on these 
boards, making a cone-shaped pile. The pile may be 
wider at the base than just the width of the boards over 
the ditch; perhaps 4 or 5 feet will be the extreme width 
of the pile and 4 feet the height. The ditch furnishes 
drainage and air to the pile of cabbage. This pile is first 
covered with straw, then dirt is banked over it deep enough 
to prevent freezing. (Fig. 30.) 

There is quite a little shrinkage in stored cabbage; 
some place it as high as 25 to 30 per cent. Of course this 
will differ according to the length of time they are kept, 
also the condition they were in when stored. 

STORING CABBAGE IN A BUILDING (Construction of) 

Scattered throughout the great Danish cabbage belt 
are a great many cabbage storehouses. Many of these 
belong to commission men, who buy from the growers 
and store for better prices, which are usually obtainable 
during the winter. There are also a great many growers 
who have on their farms storage houses of their own; these 
are usually constructed on about the same principle as 
those owned by the commission men. 

These houses are constructed with a driveway through 
their center wide and high enough to admit a team and 
load of cabbage. The size of the house will, of course, 
vary to meet the demand of its owner. Some have capacity 
for 3000 tons; these buildings are fitted up with narrow 



102 



LATE CABBAGE 



bins on each side, where the cabbage are stored, the bins 
are 2| to 3 feet wide, and extend from the driveway to 
about 1 foot from the side; this space is left for ventilation. 
They are constructed of narrow slats and have an air space 
of about 1 foot between them. The height of the bins 
will, of course, be governed by the height of the building. 




Fig. 31. — Frostproof farm storehouse. 



It is not desirable to have the bins too high, as it is hard 
to get the cabbage up into the top of them. These build- 
ings are double-boarded with an air space between, which 
greatly helps to keep them from freezing. There is always 
some system of ventilation provided which greatly aids 
in holding the proper temperature. Cabbage always keeps 
best when a temperature of just above freezing is main- 



STORAGE 103 

tained, with dry atmospheric conditions. This will often 
necessitate the opening of the ventilation system at night, 
also the doors of the house to let in the cool night air. 

In the day time during warm spells the house is 
closed up to retain the cool night air which was taken in. 
There should be several thermometers in various parts of 
the building so the exact temperature will be known. Cab' 
bage kept where it is too warm will decay on the outside 
causing considerable loss. (Fig. 31.) 

SOFT-ROT AND LEAF SPOT AFFECTING CABBAGE IN A 
STORAGE HOUSE 

SOFT-ROT (Bacillus carotovorous) 

Soft-rot is caused by a group of very closely related 
bacteria which affect various crops, such as cabbage, cauli- 
flower, turnips, radishes, carrots, and tomatoes. The prin- 
cipal damage done to cabbage is in the storage house, or 
when they are so covered as to keep them too warm out of 
doors. Infection takes place usually where the head has 
been bruised; if temperature conditions are favorable this 
will soon spread over the entire head, causing much loss, 
because all leaves showing disease must be trimmed off. 
Diseased stock has a shmy, rotten appearance; occasion- 
ally cabbage are affected while still in the field. The dam- 
age here is seldom very great, but after a period of 
storage the disease may gain a foothold, causing much loss. 
When the disease occurs in the field, rotation is the best 
preventive. If a crop that shows a little disease in the 
field is to be put into storage, be sure that the heads are 



104 LATE CABBAGE 

dry, as the disease is very sensitive to light and dry con- 
ditions. Handle heads carefully to avoid bruised spots 
for the disease to enter. 

LEAF-SPOT (Leaf Blight) Alteraaria brassicae (Berk) Sacc 

This disease attacks plants in various stages of their 
growth. L. L. Harter, of Washington, D. C, describes it 
as follows: The vegetative part of the fungus lives in 
the leaf tissues of the host and under field conditions forms 
roundish black spots marked with concentric brown zones; 
these spots vary from i to J inch or more in diameter. The 
fungus may also live as a saprophyte and cause consid- 
erable damage to cabbage in a storage house. To prevent 
loss from the fungus in the storehouse, the following sug- 
gestion should be observed: (1) Disinfect the storage house 
by spraying the walls and bins with Bordeaux mixture; 
(2) exercise care in handhng, so as to minimize injury to 
the heads; (3) maintain a temperature 1 or 2 degrees above 
freezing; and (4) keep the humidity as low as possible 
by proper ventilation of the house with outside air. 



CHAPTER XIII 

LATE CABBAGE FOR THE DAIRY AND SHEEP 
FARMER 

It has always seemed to me that of all classes of men 
to grow cabbage to the best advantage, the dairy farmer 
came first. There is always a market for his crop; even if 
he feeds them to the cows he gets a price out of them 
wliich pays him to raise them. 

There is just as much to be gained by good marketing 
as there is by good production; it is encouraging to a man 
when he starts to grow a crop and knows there will be a 
market for it with a fair profit. 

FEEDING VALUE OF CABBAGE 

The tables on pages 106 and 107 will be found of in- 
terest in comparing the feeding value of cabbage to some 
other feeds which are used in some sections. 

The following is an example of the results which I have 
found by feeding roughage. In a dairy that is giving 14 
40-quart cans of milk, the cows each eating 40 pounds of 
silage, 25 pounds of cabbage roughage, 10 pounds of alfalfa 
hay, and 1 pound of 20 per cent protein grain for every 
4 pounds of milk, if cabbage is replaced with silage or hay, 
the cows will shrink about 2 cans of milk. I have noted 

105 



106 



LATE CABBAGE 



these same results for four successive years. Most of these 
cows freshened from August to November. 

Milk is usually worth about $1.60 per can at this sea- 
son of the year. At first thought this seems a big gain for 
feeding of 25 pounds of roughage per cow, but it must be 
taken into account that after roughage stands a few weeks 

CABBAGE 



Pounds of 
Food. 


Dry Matter 
(Pounds). 


Digestible 
Protein, 
Pounds. 


Total Nutri- 
ment, Dig. Pro. 

Dig. Fibre. 

Dig. N. F. E. 

(Pounds). 


Nutritive 
Ratio. 


1 


.100 


.023 


.084 


1 : 2.7 


5 


.500 


.115 


.420 




10 


1.000 


.230 


.840 




15 


1.500 


.345 


1.260 




20 


2.000 


.460 


1.680 




25 


2.500 


.575 


2.100 




30 


3.000 


.690 


2.520 





BEAN STRAW 



Pound.s of 
Food. 


Dry Matter 
(Pounds). 


Digestible 
Protein, 
Pounds. 


Total Nutri- 
ment, Dig. Prot. 
Dig. Fiber. 
Dig. N. F. E. 
(Pounds). 


Nutritive 
Ratio. 


1 


.911 


.040 


.501 


1 : 11.5 


3 


2.733 


.120 


1.503 




5 


4.555 


.200 


2.505 




8 


7.288 


.320 


4.008 




12 


10 . 932 


.480 


6.012 




15 


13.665 


.600 


7.515 




18 


16.398 


.720 


9.018 





LATE CABBAGE FOR DAIRY AND SHEEP FARMER 107 



PEA-VINE STRAW 



Pounds of 
Food. 


Dry Matter 
(Pounds). 


Digestible 
Protein, 
Pounds. 


Total Nutri- 
ment, Dig. Prot. 
Dig. Fiber. 
Dig. N. F. E. 
(Pounds). 


Nutritive 
Ratio. 


1 


.929 


.059 


.536 


1 :8.1 


3 


2.787 


.177 


1.608 




5 


4.645 


.295 


2.680 




8 


7.432 


.472 


4.288 




12 


11.148 


.708 


6.432 




15 


13.935 


.885 


8.040 




18 


16 . 722 


1.062 


9.648 





PEA-VINE SILAGE 



Pounds of 
Food. 


Dry Matter 
(Pounds). 


Digestible 
Protein, 
Pounds. 


Total Nutri- 
ment, Dig. Prot. 
Dig. Fiber. 
Dig. N. F. E. 
(Pounds). 


Nutritive 
Ratio. 


1 


.232 


.021 


.170 


1 : 7.1 


5 


1.160 


.105 


.850 




10 


2.320 


.210 


1.700 




15 


3.480 


.315 


2.550 




20 


4.640 


.420 


3.400 




25 


5.800 


.525 


4.250 




30 


6.960 


.630 


5.100 




35 


8 . 120 


.735 


5.950 




40 


9.280 


.840 


6.800 





DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS IN 100 LBS. CORN SILAGE 



Dry Matter. 


Protein. 


Carbo- 
hydrate. 


Ether 
Extract. 


26.3 


1.1 


15.0 


0.7 



108 



LATE CABBAGE 



it begins to shrink so that, on the whole, a dairy of about 
30 cows would eat daily the equivalent of 1000 pounds. 
If there were a gain of 2 cans of milk at $1.60 per can, or 
$3.20, then the gross return for 1 ton of roughage would 
be $6.40. 

I wish to give here the figures obtained from a man 




Fig. 32. — 36^ quarts of 4 per cent milk per day from a grade Holstein 
cow fed on cabbage roughage. 



who kept 24 cows; 23 of them were fresh in February and 
March, the other one freshened in October. He fed fodder 
corn twice a day from August 18 to October 1, and then 
began to feed cabbage roughage, moderately at first, and 
later all the cows would clean up twice a day until De- 



LATE CABBAGE FOR DAIRY AND SHEEP FARMER 109 ' 

cember 1; he also fed a light feed of hay night and 

morning — about 10 pounds. 

The month before he began to feed cabbage roughage, 

which was September, his milk check was $158.00; his 

October check was $272.00; his November check $236.00; 

this shows a gain for him in two months of $192.00. 

Changes in price of milk were taken into consideration. 
Surely the feeding of cabbage is a stimulus to the milk 

flow that is found in few other feeds. After this man's 
roughage was exhausted he began to feed silage, but the 
milk flow dropped very perceptibly. 

It is the universal opinion of dairy men that the roughage 
will produce more milk than the heads. It seems as though 
a few acres of cabbage would be almost indispensable 
where there are no roots or silage to feed. For instance, 
in a bean-growing section, where stock is wintered on bean 
straw and other dry feeds, the cabbage would form a 
succulent part to the ration, which the farmer would 
never go without if he once tested its value. Often official 
records are made and cabbage used as the succulent food. 
(Fig. 32.) 

CABBAGE FOR SHEEP 

It seems as though every sheep-raiser, and especially 
those who grow hot-house lambs, would be interested in 
the production of a few cabbage. This crop should be as 
important to this class of men as the silage crop is to the 
dairy farmer of to-day. 

Sheep are very fond of some green food, especially when 
being fed bean straw and the Hke. For sheep with sucking 



no LATE CABBAGE 

lambs there is the same stimulus to the milk flow that 
there is to a milk flow in a dairy ; the labor of raising, storing, 
and feeding is far less than a root crop. 

TAINTING MILK BY FEEDING CABBAGE 

A question very often asked is, Can you feed cabbage 
and not have it taint the milk? I will reply to this by 
giving my own experience. For years my milk has been 
retailed in the city of Cortland, and during that time I 
have never had a single complaint about a cabbage-taint 
in the milk. Right here I wish to say that unless you 
feed at the proper tim^ and take proper ca.re of the milk 
there may be trouble along this line. 

The cabbage should be fed after milking, and the milk 
should be run over a milk cooler, which is in a separate 
room. Milk which is allowed to stand where there is a 
strong odor of cabbage — or any other strong odor for that 
matter — will absorb it. I probably feed cabbage five or 
six months in the year, starting as soon as the domestics 
are large enough and continuing until all roughage from the 
Danish is fed out. 

If there is no market for the heads, one often feeds 
all winter. I do not recommend feeding cabbage to excess, 
especially where one is making butter. 

FEEDING FROZEN CABBAGE 

Feeding frozen cabbage does not harm an animal if 
you feed only a small amount until it gets used to eating 
them. Freezing cabbage once seems to do very little 



LATE CABBAGE FOR DAIRY AND SHEEP FARMER 111 

harm, but freezing and thawing time after time soon spoils 
their feeding value. It does far less harm to their feed- 
ing value to freeze and let stay frozen than continued 
freezing and thawing. 

Cabbage that are frozen hard should be drawn into 
the barn and the frost allowed partly or entirely to come 
out of them before one attempts to feed. 



CHAPTER XIV 
SEED RAISING 

Of all the different phases pertaining to cabbage grow- 
ing, in my opinion none is of more vital importance than 
the production of a good strain of seed from which to 
grow the crop. You may do everything else right about 
the crop and then use poor, low-yielding seed, and your 
efforts will be rewarded with only meager results. 

Before one attempts to grow seed for himself, he must 
have a pretty fair idea of the proper kind of cabbage from 
which to grow seed. There are greater chances to run out 
a strain of cabbage than to improve it. You want a strain 
that is marketable, of good eating quality, and a good 
producer. The strain should not be an early ripener, 
nor of such tender quality that the heads will burst as 
soon as they commence to get hard. The heads should 
have the leaves fold well over the tops, and when they 
are cut open should look almost solid if fairly mature. 
(See Fig. 10, Chapter VII, and Fig. 33.) Cabbage having 
these last two qualities always weigh well; the stem of the 
cabbage should be medium length and small. It is not an 
easy matter to carry in mind from year to year a correct 
idea of the proper type, so that the best seed stock can be 
selected, because cabbage vary in different years, owing to 

112 



SEED RAISING 113 

a difference in moisture supply and varying amounts of 
fertilizers, especially nitrogen. 

It takes two years to grow cabbage seed; perhaps this 




Fig. 33. — Head at the right shows leaves folding well over the head. 
Head at the left shows poor folding. 

is why so few have tried to do it. Cabbage seed that will 
grow good, hard heads cannot be grown in a warm climate. 

IMMATURE HEAD SEED PRODUCTION 

The cabbage head is grown the first year, and then 
carried over winter in a growing condition, and the seed 
are grown the second season. 

There are two methods in practice of producing seed. 
One is called the mature-head method; the other the 
immature-head method. The immature-head method is 



114 LATE CABBAGE 

the one followed by most commercial growers, and does 
not permit of any head selection; therefore, there is no 
chance to breed up a strain. It is by far the easiest method 
and the most profitable to the seed grower. 

Most commercial growing is done in some of the milder 
sections of the country, such as Long Island, and mild sec- 
tions in Michigan and Oregon. Under this method, the seed 
are sown some time in Jul}^ and the cabbage are grown 
up to a stage where they just commence to head. At the 
approach of cold weather, the entire plants are taken and 
three rows put into one; these rows are covered with soil, 
usually by plowing a furrow from each side over them, just 
deep enough to prevent freezing. In the spring these partly 
mature heads will throw up their seed stalks. Short stakes 
are set each side of the rows and binder twine is stretched 
along to keep the stalks from being broken by the wind. 
When the seed ripen, the stalks are cut and partially dried; 
then they are tied up in large sheets and stored in some 
loft until dry enough to thresh; often they are threshed in 
a common grain thresher, but small amounts are flailed 
out by hand. 

Generally speaking, the seed is grown on a contract; 
in other words, seed men employ others to grow seed for 
them. It will be readily seen that all interest in quality 
is a secondary matter, no matter how a seedsman tries 
to have his growers produce good stock. 

By this method there is no chance for yearly head selec- 
tion, but seed is produced from everything that will grow 
it, many of the plants that produce seed would never have 
formed a marketable head. 



SEED RAISING 115 

Perhaps two neighbors side by side are growing seed, 
one growing early seed and the other late. Of course the 
two strains will cross. Or one may be growing Brussels 
sprouts seeds; the results of a cross in the latter case is a 
plant that will not head at all. 

The price paid these growers is so small that they can- 
not afford to follow any method but the cheapest. Here 
is where the cabbage grower is to blame: as a usual thing 
he wants the very cheapest seed obtainable, and generally 
he gets it. If there was a general demand for a pedigreed 
strain at a price at which one could afford to produce the 
seed it would be produced; on the other hand, I have 
found in my pedigree seed production that once the people 
find what I have I cannot grow enough to supply the 
demand. 

MATURE HEAD SEED PRODUCTION 

The method I have followed for years gives some chance 
yearly to improve a strain. It is the mature-head method 
and differs from the other in that one goes through a field 
of full-grown cabbage and selects desirable heads for seed, 
instead of taking every plant. A grower who is particular 
will breed his seed for a number of years before he will 
take over one head in thirty from a field of cabbage to 
grow seed from. 

The desirable heads are pulled and carried over winter, 
roots and all. Before deciding that a head is desirable, 
break down the outside leaves on one side, so that the 
shape and depth of the head from the side can be seen; 
this will also give you a better chance to judge whether the 



116 LATE CABBAGE 

plant has an oversupply of outside leaves, a feature which 
is not desirable. 

STORING MATURE HEADS FOR SEED 

The best place that I have found to carry over winter 
such heads is in the woods. Go back into the timber 
several rods, to be assured that the wind will not blow 
the snow off in the winter. Here place the cabbage so 
that the head rests on one side and the roots also touch the 
ground; place the first row so that the roots all project 
in one way; now the second row will fit in between 
the roots of the first row and so on until all are laid down. 
It is best to count the number of heads stored, so that 
you will know how large a seed plot to prepare for them 
in the spring. Be sure to cover sufficiently to keep from 
freezing. 

RESETTING SEED HEADS IN THE SPRING 

In the spring the heads are reset about early oat-sowing 
time, in rows 4 or 5 feet apart, the plants being about 
2 feet in the row. The plants should be set a httle deeper 
than they were in the field. Ground suitable for growing 
cabbage is all right for seed raising. 

Windy locations are to be avoided on account of breakage 
of the plants when they get tall. 

If the headj have not cracked in the winter, an X is 
cut in the top; this will allow the center shoot to come 
through more readily. Do not cut so deep that you will 
injure the bud from which the seed stalk grows, which is 



SEED RAISING 



117 




Fig. 34.— Method of cutting heads to allow seed stalk to come through. 



118 LATE CABBAGE 

in the upper center of the head. (Fig. 34.) Many lateral 
shoots will start from the under side of the head, but these 
should be rubbed off. (Fig. 35.) The central shoot is 
the one which will give best results in seed. (Fig. 36.) 
Each head should have an iron or wooden stake driven 
down beside it to tie the seed stalk to during growth. 
(Fig. 37.) 

Cabbage heads set out in this way will grow a shoot 
from 4 to 6 feet tall, and will produce several ounces of 
seed per head or plant. As the shoots commence to grow, 
the old head will loosen from the main stem or stump; 
this loosened head should be removed and not allowed to 
rot, as it will cause infection to the new plant, 

FERTILIZATION AND CULTIVATION OF SEED PLANTS 

The heads set for seed should be cultivated and kept 
free from weeds. It often happens that one will have to do 
the cultivating early in the morning when the plants are 
in bloom, owing to the numerous bees on the blossoms. 
Cabbage set for seed need a liberal fertilization; from 
1000 to 1500 pounds is none too much per acre. The fer- 
tilizer should be about equal percentages of Phosphoric 
acid and Potash. These elements form seed and do not 
cause excessive growth, as the case would be if a quantity 
of Nitrogen were used. When cabbage rows are set as far 
apart as 4 or 5 feet, it is best to apply the fertilizer to each 
side of the row as well as iij it. 



SEED RAISING 



119 







Fig. 35.— Lateral shoots from the base of a head. 




Fig. 36.— Cabbage heads tlirowing the seed stalk correctly. 



120 



LATE CABBAGE 







SEED RAISING 



121 



HARVESTING, CURING AND THRESHING 

Usually the seed ripen some time in August. The plants 
should be allowed to grow as long as possible without loss 




FiQ. 38. — Cabbage plant with mature 

seed pods. 



. Note the large thrifty 



from shelling of the more mature seed pods. (Fig. 38.) 
The pods will have a waxy yellowish appearance when ripe. 



122 LATE CABBAGE 

I usually cut low enough down on the plant to get all the 
seed shoots. They are then placed on racks made from 
6-inch boards set up edgewise in the form of a square or 
rectangle ; over this is stretched a 200-pound bran sack after 
it is ripped open; there will be no loss by shelling when 
placed upon racks of this kind. Set them in the sun so that 
the plant will dry as soon as possible; they should be 
carried under cover or piled up and covered if a shower 
threatens. The plants will dry much faster if turned on 
the racks occasionally. You will find them quite hard to 
cure, as a green cabbage growth does not dry readily. Do 
not store in a damp place, as the seed need to harden up; 
they will sprout very easily and need to be kept dry. 

Once the plants are dry they may be threshed out in 
a regular grain thresher, or by hand with a flail. I made 
a thresher especially for the purpose. It consists of a 
large wooden box about 6 feet long, 3 feet high and 2J feet 
wide; the upper half of one end is taken out and there is 
suspended crosswise through the box a wooden cylinder 
about 8 inches in diameter into which are driven 20d. 
spikes; after the head is removed, these spikes protrude 
about IJ inches. 

There are no concaves in the machine, but instead the 
feeding-table extends down under the cy Under. On one end 
of the shaft which passes through the cyhnder there is a 
belt pulley. The machine can be driven with ahuost any 
power which may be upon the farm. The plants are fed 
into the machine top first and as the cylinder revolves 
it very quickly knocks the dry pods to pieces. The 
operator does not let go of the plant, but as soon as the 



SEED RAISING 123 

pods are off it is thrown into a pile, and another plant 
receives the same treatment. 

The top or cover to the machine is removable, so that 
the seed and pods may be taken out when it is full. The 
seed are now cleaned up in an ordinary fanning mill, special 
sieves being usually required. 

Be sure your seed are thoroughly cured before thresh- 
ing, otherwise they should not be run through the fanning 
mill, but stored, pods and all, until dry. 



INDEX 



A PAGE 

Air for plants ^^ 

Aphis cabbage ' ^ 

Arsenate of lead 72, 75 

spray solution of '2 

Arsenic, white "° 

for spraying 68 

for poisoning 70 

Ashes 14' 67 

B 

Black leaf 40 74 

formula for 74 

Black leg or foot rot 84 

Black rot 7, 80 

Blight or downy mildew 85 

Bordeaux mixture 85 

formula for 85 

Bordeaux sticker 73 

formula for 73 

C 

Cabbage, cracking of 47, 64 

cutting tools 90 

feeding value of 10^ 

for dairymen 105 

for sheep farmers 109 

freezing of 92 

native of vi^ 

over-ripe 87 

shrinkage of 101 

strains not true to type 10 

125 



126 INDEX 

PAGE 

Cabbage, value of as fertilizer 43 

Cabbage aphis or louse 74 

Cabbage field, preparation of 30 

Cabbage worms (green^ 71 

spraying for 72, 75 

other leaf eating worms 73 

Cauliflower vii, 74 

Clover sod 3 

Club root 1, 11, 14, 28, 78 

Collards vii 

Crickets 71 

Crop rotation 1 

Cultivation 60, 64 

amount of 61 

breaking of leaves l^y 64 

deep 64 

for seed plants 118 

shallow 61 

time for 60, 64 

Cultivator, Planet, Jr 62 

spike-toothed 62 

two-horse 64 

Cut worms 69, 71 

D 

Danish cabbage viii 

tenderness of ix 

Ditching, importance of 32 

Disease, preventing of 1 

propagation of vii 

Diseases, cabbage 78 

black rot 81 

black leg or foot rot 84 

club root 78 

damping off of seedlings 85 

downy mildew or blight 85 

in storage 103 

wilt or yellows 83 



INDEX 127 

^ PAGE 

Early cabbage, root system of vii 

F 

FaU plowing 12, 30, 69, 70 

for quack grass 29 

Feeding frozen cabbage 110 

Feeding roughage in the field 95 

Feeding value of cabbage 105 

Fertilization, cabbage field 34 

seed bed 12 

seed plants 118 

Fertilizer, amount removed by one ton of cal)])age 43 

effect of broadcasting 39 

hill using of 40 

home mixing of 40 

machines for applj'ing 40 

table for home mixing of 42 

test plots of 36 

tools for home mixing of 40 

Flea-beetle 22, 66 

Foot rot or black leg 84 

Freezing of cabbage 92 

H 

Hand planter 55 

advantages of 56 

Harvesting cabbage 87 

method of 88 

roughage 93 

tools for 90 

Hellebore 74 

Humus 2 

I 

Insect enemies 66 



128 INDEX 

K 

PAGE 

Kale vii 

Kohlrabi vii 



L 

Late cabbage, root system of vii 

Leaf spot 104 

Leaves, breaking of by cultivation 64 

Lice, cabbage 74 

Lime, air slaked 73 

for club root 45, 80 

for flea beetle 67 

forms of 43 

for seed bed 14 

methods of applying 45 



M 

Machine setting 54 

objections of 54 

Maggot, cabbage 23, 67 

Manure 35 

May beetle 70 

Milk, tainting of by feeding cabbage 110 

Moisture, need of 30 

preservation of 30, 60 

Mustard vii, 23, 80 



N 

Nitrogen, effect of 34-43, 113 

for seed raising 118 

in one ton of cabbage 43 

lack of 36 

method of applying 36 

seedlings hastened by 50 



INDEX 129 

P 

PAGE 

Paris green 69, 72, 73 

Pepper grass vii 

Phosphoric acid 34-43, 1 18 

in one ton of cabbage 43 

Plants, damaged by frost 16 

Danish sale of 15 

domestic sale of 16 

method of taking up 50 

moistening roots of 52 

number per acre 59 

Potash 14, 34-43, 118 

in one ton of cabbage 43 

Pyrethrum powder 74 



Q 

Quack grass, killing of 29 



R 

Red cabbage viii 

keeping qualities of viii 

Rotation, for cabbage 28 

kinds of 2 

of seed bed 80 

Roughage, amount of per acre 95 

feeding of 95 

harvesting of 93 



S 

Screening, cost of 22 

grade of cloth to use 27 

method of 25 

seed bed 22 

value of 27 



130 INDEX 

PAGE 

Seed, amount for one acre 14 

bming of 8 

comparison of high- and low-yielding strains 8 

cming of 122 

failure to grow 16 

haiA'esting of 121 

imported 6 

native 6 

number in lb. of 14 

shape of 7 

size of 7 

sowing of 20 

testing of 7 

threshing of 122 

treating of disease 18 

%'itality of 7 

when to sow 16, 21 

where grown 6, 114 

Seed bed, fertilization of 12 

lime or ashes for 14 

locating of 11, 23 

nitrogen for 14 

preparation of 12 

sowing of 20 

Seed raising 112 

immature-head method 113 

mature-head method 115 

selecting heads for 115 

Setting, cost of 57 

distance for 59 

hand 52 

machine 52 

Snails, soft-shelled 75 

Soft rot 103 

Soil, preparation of for cabbage 30 

tj-pes best adapted for cabbage 28 

Storage 77, 96 

a building for 101 



INDEX 131 

PAGE 

Storage of mature heads for seed 116 

out of doors 96 

Storehouse construction 101 

T 

Tarred paper pads 68 

Tile \'itrified for ditching 33 

Transplanting 30, 46 

effect of early and late 47 

machinery- for 52 

mature seed heads 116 

methods used for 52 

time for 46 

W 

Wilt or yellows 83 

Worms, green cabbage 71 

other leaf eating 73 

Y 

Yellows or wilt 83 



